Pinterest Try-It - Lemon Brownies

Here's a great recipe from "Gonna Want Seconds" that I found on Pinterest.  (If you are the one person left that is NOT on Pinterest, run, don't walk and get an account.  It's a life changer.)

It's that time of year when I'm trying to get rid of the last lemons on my tree and this recipe is SOO easy and yummy, you have no excuse not to try it.  These are not the same as Lemon Squares, which have a more gooey consistency. The consistency of these is really more like soft chewy brownies. In fact, if you prefer your brownies slightly more cake-like, add a 1/4 tsp of baking powder to this recipe.  I like mine chewy!

Ingredients

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 stick (1/2 c.) butter, softened

2 eggs

2 Tbl. lemon zest

2 Tbl. lemon juice

Glaze

1 c. powdered sugar

3 Tbl. lemon juice

2-3 Tbl. lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8x8" baking dish with aluminum foil.  Use 2 pieces, so there is overlap on all sides.  Spray a non-stick spray on the aluminum foil.  This is an important step that I was so thankful for when I read the original recipe.

Combine flour, sugar, salt and butter and beat until combined.  I softened my butter in the microwave first so the combination would be smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Use a fine grater for the zest and don't grate beyond the white rind on the lemons.  That way your zest is just yellow and not bitter.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour/sugar mixture and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Pour the mixture into the lined pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.  (You can do a toothpick test to check if they are done.)  Cool the brownies COMPLETELY before you glaze them.

Once the brownies are cool, combine the powdered sugar with half of the lemon juice (1.5 Tbl), stirring as you do.  Add the remaining lemon juice.  You want a thick, but pourable consistency with the glaze.  Apply the glaze to the brownies.  Sprinkle the remaining lemon zest over the top. 

I agree with the original recipe that your best bet is to refrigerate the glazed brownies overnight BEFORE cutting them or even removing them from the pan.  These are awesome cold.

That's it!  Super yummy, but be prepared to make several batches of these because they will go fast!

cindy

Lemon Blueberry Cake

I promise - last lemon use.  But this is a really good one - Lemon Blueberry Cake.

I first saw this as one of those Delish videos on Facebook and I just had to try it.  This was absolutely the best cake I have ever made from scratch (although I can't say I've made too many).  The recipe comes from Natasha's Kitchen, although I did modify it a bit based on the baking pan.  Her original recipe called for a springform pan, but I don't own one.  I do own a tube bundt cake pan, and based on the modification of her recipe, I was able to create this yummy cake. 

If you are a more serious baker and have a springform pan, use the link above to find her recipe.  If you are using a bundt pan, here's how to make this awesome cake:

Ingredients

3 large eggs

1 1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 1/2 c. (12 oz.) sour cream

3/4 c. light olive oil or vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

3 c. all purpose flour

3 tsp. baking powder

2 Tbl. lemon juice

Zest of 1-2 lemons (1 Tbl.)

3/4 Tbl. corn starch

18 oz. (3 pint containers) blueberries*

Powdered sugar to dust top

*Natasha warns against using too many blueberries because it gets too heavy at the bottom.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease the pan with cooking spray.  Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until thoroughly blended.  Add the sour cream, oil, vanilla and salt and beat until smooth.

Mix the flour and baking powder together and slowly add to egg mixture, about 1/3 at a time until completely blended.  Add a tablespoon of lemon juice and lemon zest and blend.

Rinse the blueberries and in a separate bowl, gently toss them with the cornstarch and the other 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. 

Spoon about 1/2 of the batter into the bottom of the greased pan and then layer the blueberries on top.  Repeat with the remaining batter and berries so you end up like this:

Bake for 55 minutes and after the pan has cooled a little, gently flip it over onto a plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

This cake makes a great coffee/pound type cake.  If you do use a springform pan or frozen blueberries, check Natasha's Kitchen for the correct measurements.  By using the bundt tube pan, I had to increase the quantities of the ingredients.

We will definitely be making this cake again, certainly in the early Spring when our lemons are abundant and blueberries from Chile are plentiful!  Enjoy!

cindy

Try it Tuesday - Lemon Crinkle Cookies

For those who follow Straddling the Gap on Facebook, I have been saving lots of those "Facebook" recipes to test out on my family (and you!).  I tried this recipe for Lemon Crinkle Cookies a couple of weeks ago.  These are FAST to make because they only have 4 ingredients and allegedly, they are low fat.

WARNING - My attempts at food photography suck.  No, really.  I would steal the picture from the recipe on Facebook but that would be blatantly wrong (and you would know it).  So, here are my pictures.  In my defense on these cookies, they didn't even make it off the cookie sheets except to go in my family's mouths!  For whatever it's worth these cookies were very pretty - yellow and well formed.

Here's the recipe:

1 box lemon cake mix
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 cups (8 oz container) Cool Whip
1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar (enough to roll through)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine everything in large bow EXCEPT powdered sugar.  (I can confirm that, consistent with the Facebook recipe, the dough is sticky!)  Form dough into tablespoon size balls and roll in powdered sugar.  Place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until edges are golden.  You might want to consider even a little longer if they aren't getting too brown because these cookies don't get crispy.  Allow to cool.

So, how did they do?  The recipe yields about 2 dozen cookies and there were none left when we went to bed that night.  They are chewy more than crunchy but they are lemony and yummy.  I always try to have a "takeaway" thought of how I could do a better job next time with this recipe.  For this one, I would try baking it a little longer.  I'm curious to see how much crunchier I can get these cookies without burning them.  

These cookies are so easy and great for a quick desert or after school snack.  Thumbs up from me!

cindy

Luscious Lemon Cake

I'm hardly a foodie and don't do too many recipes here, but I've been on a roll lately so you might just see more food here for a little while.  This weekend I tried something a little different, something I made up by combining a bunch of ideas from Pinterest and all those recipes that are populating Facebook these days.  This is a lemon poke cake with raspberry cream filling and lemon cream cheese frosting.  Interested in this yummy summer cake?  Read on.

You need:
1 box lemon cake mix                             eggs, water and oil (to make box cake)
1 package Jello lemon pudding mix        milk (to make pudding)
1/2 container Cool Whip                         raspberry preserves (jelly is fine too)
1 container lemon frosting                      1 container whipped cream cheese frosting

Make the cake according to directions in two round (8 or 9") pans.  When cake comes out of oven, poke each round multiple times with straw (or other hole-making implement) and pour prepared lemon pudding over the holes.  Smooth and remove excess pudding.  Refrigerate (because I like cold cake when I apply frosting).

Mix Cool Whip and raspberry preserves to taste.  I used about half a regular size container of Cool Whip and about 1/2 a cup of preserves.  I honestly can't give exact measurements because I mixed until I had the taste and consistency I wanted.  You want the raspberry taste, but not too strong.  Smooth liberally over one of the rounds.

Mix the lemon and whipped cream cheese frostings.  Note that I used "whipped" cream cheese frosting which you can find in the prepared tubs.  Unfortunately for me, I had to make add real whipped cream cheese (not frosting) because I didn't have enough frosting after my growing son ate most of it!  Mix the frostings, again to taste.  I would use more cream cheese frosting than lemon because the consistency is better with whipped cream cheese frosting and it cuts the strong lemon taste a bit.

Put the other round on top and frost the cake.  Voila!

I wanted to show a cross section so you can see the filling.  Note the frosting is clumpy because I had to mix in real cream cheese to make enough frosting.  It still tastes great, just isn't quite as pretty.  You can also heat the frosting and drizzle it over the top.

I'm pretty proud of this one so I think it's a keeper.  If you like a flavorful lemon cake, give it a try.

Cindy