Recipe: Strawberry Lemonade Bars

Yessss!!  I'm writing and in a timely manner.

These bars are amazing and delicious and still really simple to make. I used the same crust from my last lemon squares but I added a twist to my lemon filling and decided to go with Strawberry Lemonade Bars this time.  I had fresh strawberries sitting in my refrigerator just waiting to be consumed and this seemed like the perfect trial. It's summertime and who could possibly resist the combination of fresh strawberries and lemonade.
To compensate for the extra liquid, I used an extra egg and another tablespoon of flower. I also cut down on the sugar content a bit because last time I found the lemon squares a little too sweet for my tastes and also because ripe, fresh strawberries should add their own sweetness to the batter.

The most beautiful strawberry lemonade bars

Ingredients

use Aluminum foil for easy cleanup

crust:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick butter) room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour 
• pinch of salt

filling:

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 -3/4 cup sugar
• 2 freshly squeezed lemons
• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• 1 tbs freshly zested lemon zest (I used zest that I had frozen from last time)
• 3-4 tbs all purpose flour

Line an oven proof pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper for easier cleanup.  Preheat your oven to 350°F. 

If you have an electric mixer, I would use it to cream the butter and sugar.  I don't have an electric mixer, so again I had to do it by hand. It just takes a little more time and patience but it's totally doable. I used a fork to mash the butter and sugar and then kneaded the salt and flour into the mix.  When it's a cohesive mixture and not too sticky (add a little more flour if you need to) press it evenly into your pan, bringing it up slightly along the edges. Now I'm notoriously bad at measuring, especially while in Italy. The recipe calls for a stick of butter, but the form is different in Italy, so I added a little at a time until the butter was able to hold all of the sugar. I figure, the more butter the better!  

Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Turn it, if you start to see only one area of the crust bubbling or coloring.
While the crust is baking whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of flour.  Whisk until well-blended with no clumps.

Just look at that gorgeous color

In a blender, pulse your ripe strawberries for a few minutes. If you don't have a blender, you can alternatively crush them with a fork. Add this to your lemon and egg mixture.  If it's looking too runny, add in an additional tablespoon of flour but do it slowly so the flour blends and doesn't form clumps.
Pour the filling over the crust and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the lemon filling is set and firm.  Keep a close eye on your lemon bars and rotate to make sure it colors evenly.
The bars are done when the liquid sets. I wasn't being particularly attentive this time around (I was washing dishes instead) and my oven has a hot spot, so a little bit of my crust burnt. But that's okay because it was still utterly delicious.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Then cut into squares or triangles.  I used a round pan, so some of mine were oddly shaped, but that wasn't a problem.  I just ate those scrapes as testers.
Put in the fridge and then serve cold as a nice refreshing dessert!

The crust was still buttery and excellent and the strawberry lemonade filling was wonderful.  Use fresh berries and fresh lemons because the flavor payoff is fantastic.  The ripe strawberry really adds a kick of sweetness and reminds me of summertime adventures.  It also really complements the tartness of the lemon.

Recipe: Lemon squares

Soooo ages and ages ago I made lemon squares (mentioned in this blog).
Ages and ages ago I said I would post the recipe because they were delicious and I never got around to it.... Also I typed it into a word document, forgot about it and then when I finally found it, I deleted it, thinking that I'd already posted it.
Sometimes I spectacularly resemble an airhead.
So I've decided that now, since the weather is warm and lemon is super refreshing, I'll just have to post up the recipe.  Yes, it requires opening your oven, but not for very long so it's worth it.  As soon as your lemon squares are done, let them cool, take them out of the pan and cool in the fridge.
Totally and absolutely worth it.
And the recipe really is quite simple with minimal ingredients.  Even the crust is easy to make (although

I suppose you could easily buy one as well (think graham cracker lol)...
I have to give credit to Joy the Baker and Luscious Lemon for inspiration. I modified and combined their two recipes for the perfect lemon square.
I made these with lemons from my student's garden and then fed them to my classes. They were quite successful! Successful enough to make me want to make more. Which I finally did yesterday (sometimes it takes me time to get to my projects) and I played around with my base recipes again. I made Strawberry Lemonade Bars.  I'll try to post up the recipe tomorrow (since I'm typing it here, maybe I'll actually do it in a timely fashion!).

Cover your oven proof dish with aluminum foil for easy cleanup!

Ingredients
crust:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick butter) room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour 
• pinch of salt

filling:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbs freshly zested lemon zest 
• 3 tbs all purpose flour

Line an oven proof pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper for easier cleanup.  Preheat your oven to 350°F. 

So many levels of utterly delicious

If you have an electric mixer, I would use it to cream the butter and sugar.  I don't have an electric mixer, sooo I was forced to do it by hand. It just takes a little more time and patience but it's totally doable.  Add the salt and flour and mix well.  When it's a cohesive mixture and not too sticky (add a little more flour if you need to) press it into your pan.  

Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden on the edges.
While the crust is baking whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and flour.  Whisk until cohesive.
Pour the filling over the crust and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the lemon filling is set and firm.  Keep a close eye on your lemon bars and rotate to make sure they color evenly.
Let cool completely and then cut into squares.  I used a round form, so the edges weren't square... which is fine, because I ate them before anyone could see!
Put in the refrigerator and serve chilled.

See, absolutely simple and deliciously amazing!

Baking Exploits in Italy...

If you know me, or have read through some of the posts from last year then you know that I really like baking. I enjoy making desserts, even though I'm not a particularly precise person. I use recipes and then completely change things as I go even when baking.  It's supposed to be the science of cooking, and is, but I still like to tweak and play.
That being said, I haven't baked in ages.
I tried baking cupcakes back in December but sadly they didn't come out as well as they could have.  I had a couple of problems to contend with. The main issue was ingredients. Since Italians aren't big cake bakers (they're great with desserts and pastries but don't make fluffy cakes and cupcakes like we make in the States) I had a hard time finding the right kind of baking powder and baking soda. Vanilla comes in powder form, unless you go to specialty shops. Brown sugar here is not brown sugar but cane sugar, so it is darker in color but not finely ground. It doesn't pack well and therefore changes the texture of any cake or cookie that calls for it.
Ingredients were a slight problem, and so was measuring. I didn't own a measuring cup here because a measuring cup here doesn't measure cups but milliliters.  I didn't feel like taking the effort to convert my recipes into Italy appropriate measurements  so I just used a drinking glass to measure... Yes, so this doesn't really work.
Anyone with half a brain, probably wouldn't have tried to make it work but I'm a little insistent on doing things my way.
My chocolate chip cupcakes were edible but they weren't quite right either. They didn't rise the right way and certainly didn't get fluffy like I wanted.  No one complained, so I suppose they were good, but I wasn't happy with them.
I wanted to try again, but then th eoven broke.  Ok, not quite the oven, just the dial.
That being said, it took over a month for it to get fixed. I live in Italy after all.
So I had bought new pans, measuring cups and spoons and I couldn't bake until last night!
I finally got to bake something successfully last night.
My student gave me lemons from her garden so I decided to use them to make lemon squares for the

first time ever.  I looked up a bunch of recipes before getting the oven fixed which was quite comical. I looked up No Bake Lemon Cake and No Bake Lemon Bars and for some reason Yummly (a recipe search engine) linked me to a bunch of recipes that definitely required baking.
I was a little confounded but in the end it was fine, because I found 2 recipes that seemed great for when I got my oven back. Luckily, we got a new dial Wednesday morning so yesterday evening after work it was time to try some baking.
I'm going to have to post the recipe later on because my lemon squares came out wonderfully. Sweet, moist and gooey.
I made 2 batches and I was ridiculously pleased with both!

my beautiful lemon squares

Recipe: Lemon Chicken

I have been craving lemon, something lemony for the last couple of days.  I’m not sure why, but lemon has seemed very appealing to me. When I went to the grocery store a couple of days ago, I bought chicken and a lemon with the intention of making myself some lemon chicken. I didn’t have time right that moment so I froze the chicken legs in packets of 2. Finally, on Monday I got a chance to experiment and make some lemon chicken—my style.

My Lemon Chicken

Ingredients

4 chicken legs FROZEN

¼ cup flour + extra for sauce

Basil

Red pepper flakes

1 lemon

¼ - ½ cup lemon juice (ideally I would’ve used another lemon, but I only had one)

¼ onion diced finely (almost minced)

1 garlic clove crushed and diced finely

Olive Oil

Water

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix a ¼ cup flour with a pinch of basil and red pepper flakes. Take your frozen chicken and rinse in warm water to defrost slightly (let it sit in hot water for about 5 minutes if the chicken is frozen together).  Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and rub over skin, then lightly dredge with the flour mixture.

Heat a tablespoon or so of oive oil in a medium saucepan over a low flame. When the oil is nice and hot, add in your chicken. Watch your fingers when you do this, if the oil is hot enough it may start to sizzle.  Since the chicken is frozen keep the flame low and allow the chicken to brown on each side.  Add olive oil if the pan gets too hot or if the chicken starts to stick. Don’t let it burn. 

The chicken will NOT cook all the way through so don’t worry. 

When each side has begun to get nice and golden, remove from the heat.

Place the chicken into a heat proof baking dish (Note: do not throw away the oil, you’ll need it for the sauce) and put it into the oven.  Keen an eye on the chicken and turn in about 15 minutes.  It should take about a half hour or more to cook through since it was frozen through. 

Place the previous pan (with the same oil) over a low heat and once it is hot again, add in the onion and garlic. Cook slowly and squeeze the fresh lemon into the pan carefully. Before cutting the lemon in half, roll it on the table, the juice will squeeze out more readily. Pour in a ¼ cup of water at a time as the mixture cooks down. Stir continuously so the onion and garlic do not burn.  Taste and add additional lemon juice if the lemon taste is not strong enough.  Continue to stir and cook down. 

Add dried basil, salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in a pinch of flour at a time mixing constantly until the sauce has thickened sufficiently.

After 25 minutes (after the chicken has already been turned once), cut into the thickest piece to see if it has cooked all the way through. You can also use a meat thermometer to see if the chicken has come to the correct temperature inside. I cut into the chicken, the juices were still running a little pink so I turned the chicken again and let it back for another 5 to 10 minutes.

The Perfect Plate

This gave me enough time to play with my lemon sauce. I added a little more water and flour since the lemon flavor strengthens as the sauce cooks down.  I didn’t want it to be TOO lemony.

When the chicken is cooked through, serve it hot with a generous helping of the lemon sauce on top.

We had our chicken with a lovely light salad made with lettuce, tomato, onions and chick peas lightly doused

with a creamy balsamic vinegar reduction. Since the sauce was so tasty we used some wheat bread to sop it up. The meal would have been utter perfection with potatoes but sadly I didn't have any at home so next time, I'll have to make some delicious, creamy mashed potatoes to serve as a side.

My light and perfect lemon chicken sandwich

The next day with my left over chicken, I decided to make a sandwich. I went to the market and bought some beautiful, fresh bread and lots of crisp, fresh spinach. It made and absolutely stunning sandwich.  In fact, I want another one, right now.    

Recipe: Lemon Meringue Pie

So I've never actually made lemon meringue pie before and I'm not exactly clear how I decided to make it, but I did tonight. We were talking about desserts and there were egg whites in the fridge and lots of lemons to play with.
I think it came out quite nicely for a first attempt and can't wait to try it again.

Simple Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups flours
2 tsps sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbs whole milk

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Mix all the ingredients together and pat down into the bottom and sides of a 9" pie pan. I didn't have a 9" pie pan, so I used 2 8" cake tins and just made two shorter pie crusts. Poke holes into bottom and sides
Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Keep an eye on the crusts because they cook quickly.  And then use with any pie recipe (in this case obviously lemon meringue xp )

Lemon Meringue Pie
1 cup sugar
2 tbs  flour
3 tbs corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup water
2 lemons squeezed and zested
2 tbs butter
4 egg yolks whipped
1 9" pie crust or 2 8" pie crusts
4 egg whites
6 tbs sugar
1 tbs vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Lemon filling: In a medium sauce pan, whisk together sugar, flour, corn starch and salt. Slowly add in the water, fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest. Blend well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil. Add in butter. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and then add a half cup of the hot lemon/sugar mixture. Then pour back into the lemon mixture and bring to a boil. Continue to cook and stir until thick. Remove from heat and pour into pie crusts.

Meringue: In a bowl, whip the egg whites until foamy and mix in the vanilla. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until the eggs form stiff peaks. Spread meringue over lemon mixture, sealing the edges at the crust.

Bake for 10 minutes or until meringue is golden.

-Raspberry Truffle