Lemon Bars

My family has always been a fan of lemon bars and it has been extremely hot so I wanted to make something refreshing

They are quite lemony so you have to like lemon to fully enjoy them, luckily my family and the people that I made them for liked them a lot

I have never actually made lemon bars even in from a box. This recipe is really good because it calls for fresh squeezed lemons

For the Crust:
Vegetable oil, for greasing
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, diced
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, plus more for garnish
1/4 teaspoon salt


For the Filling:
4 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 8 lemons)


Directions
Make the crust: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with vegetable oil and line with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides; grease the foil with oil. Pulse the butter, flour, both sugars and the salt in a food processor until the dough comes together, about 1 minute. Press evenly into the bottom and about 1/2 inch up the sides of the prepared pan, making sure there are no cracks. Bake until the crust is golden, about 25 minutes.




Meanwhile, make the filling: Whisk the whole eggs and yolks, sugar and flour in a bowl until smooth. Whisk in the lemon zest and juice. Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the temperature to 300 degrees F. Pour the filling over the warm crust and return to the oven. Bake until the filling is just set, 30 to 35 minutes.


Let the bars cool in the pan on a rack, then refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Lift out of the

 pan using the foil and slice. Dust  with confectioners' sugar before serving.

The powder sugar will seep into the lemon bars so don't dust it to early 



Sorry for the very few blogs this summer I haven't had very much time to write them but I have been cooking new recipes so you can expect several blogs to come out very soon 

Recipes like shortbread cookies, apple chips and snicker doodles!!!


:)  :)  :)  :)  Culinary Artist in Training  :)  :)  :)  :)

Famous Oatmeal Cookies

These are one of my dad's favorite cookies so I made them for Father's Day

This is my grandma's recipe that I found in my mom's recipe box

Ingredients:

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 cups oats

Preheat oven to 350

Beat shortening, sugars, egg, water and vanilla together until creamy

Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda add to creamed mixture 

Stir in oats

Drop on greased cookie sheet 

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes

You can also add some chocolate chips, coconut or raisins to make them more flavorful

They are really good but my dad isn't a fan of raisins so mine were just plain

:)  :)  :)  :) 
 Culinary Artist in Training  
:)  :)  :)  :)

Pizza Monkey Bread

I wanted to make some actual food and meals instead of all desserts and sweets

So I made this for dinner tonight

(It honestly went better than my real monkey bread attempts)

I was going to buy the pizza dough because I didn't want it to turn out bad 

But this recipe was attached to the Pizza Monkey Bread recipe

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup warm water, divided
1 tsp sugar
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing bowl
4 cups (22 oz) bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

Put 1/2 cup warm water into the bowl of your stand mixer and stir in sugar until dissolved.

 Sprinkle the yeast over the top and let stand until frothy, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining water and oil.

Add the flour and salt to the stand mixer bowl fitted with the dough hook.

 Mix on low until the flour is combined and then turn up the speed and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. 

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl (I remove the dough, oil the stand mixer bowl, and put the dough back in… one less dirty dish).

 Cover with plastic wrap until it doubles in volume, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.

The dough should look something like this after rising

It made really good dough and was extremely easy to make

This was one of my family's new favorite meals it appears

The only problem is that you have to let the dough rise than make all the pieces then it sits again then it takes a while to cook but it was really worth it

Here is the rest  of the recipe:

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced4 Tbsp butter2 lbs pizza dough (I used all of the dough from recipe above)6 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes (I cut up string cheese because that is what I had)2-3 cups marinara sauce, warmed, for servingAnything that you would like in you pizza


Instructions
Heat garlic and butter over medium heat just until the garlic begins to brown. Remove from heat and let sit.
Lightly brush the inside of a bundt pan (or other oven-safe dish) with garlic butter.
Pull off large marble-sized balls of dough and flatten (Depending on what you want in it it might have to use more dough)  Top with your       
                                                         toppings and a cube of mozzarella.
Wrap the dough around the filling, pinching well to seal.
Very lightly brush the pizza ball with garlic butter and place into the bundt pan
Repeat until all of the dough is used.
Cover and let sit for 30 minutes, while preheating the oven to 400.
Bake for ~35 minutes, until the top is very brown.
Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes.
Turn out onto a platter and serve with warmed marinara sauce for dipping.

I flipped mine over again so it was easier to pull apart

 

:)  :)  :)
Culinary Artist in Training
:)  :)  :)

Thin Mint Truffles

Today was my last day of school and I was home by 9:30 : D

I came home and did some research (on Pinterest) and found this recipe 

I have been wanting to make truffles for a while now and had all of the ingredients for this

They were really good but make sure you DO NOT add to much milk or you won't be able to roll it

And I used Mint Chocolate chocolate melts to add more mint flavor

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 c. AP flour
• 7 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 c. Sugar
• 1/4 c. Butter
• 2 oz. cream cheese
• splash of Vanilla
• 1 tsp. Peppermint extract*
• 3-5 Tbsp. Milk (more if necessary)
• At least 8 oz. melted dipping chocolate (the darker the better)

Instructions:

1. Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, mix all ingredients together except for the milk.
2. Add the milk 1 tbsp at a time, until dough is a manageable consistency for scooping and rolling.
3. Scoop out 1 tsp at a time of the dough, roll into balls. Place in the freezer for 10-20 minutes, until firm.
4. Dip in melted dipping chocolate, let harden on wax paper.

They are really good especially because this is my first time making any kind of truffle

I plain on making several blogs this summer but it will be hard I'm sorry if I don't do as many as I planned

One of the things I will definitely make is Amish friendship bread

Thanks for reading

  :)  :)  :) Culinary Artist In Training :)  :)  :)

Caramel Chex with Chocolate Drizzle

I really didn't choose this recipe my mom just told me to make something with our leftover Chex

I didn't use the right kind of Chex because I used up the stuff I had but it doesn't really make a difference

3	cups Corn Chex® cereal
3	cups Rice Chex® cereal
1/2	bag (14-oz size) caramels (about 25)
2	tablespoons butter or margarine
2	tablespoons milk
1/4	cup semisweet chocolate chips

1.	In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals.
2.	In medium microwavable bowl, microwave caramels, butter and milk uncovered on High 2 to 3 minutes, stirring after each minute, until caramels are melted and mixture is smooth. Pour over cereals; gently stir until evenly coated.
3.	Microwave on High 3 to 4 minutes, stirring after each minute, until just beginning to brown. Spread on waxed paper to cool.
4.	In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High about 1 minute or until chocolate can be stirred smooth. Drizzle over snack. Refrigerate until set. Store in airtight container.

They are really good but they are kind of messy while eating

I like them a lot and the caramel doesn't get stuck in my braces

And the kids liked them because they had caramel and chocolate

Hope you like my recipes

  :)  :)  :)  :) Culinary Artist in Training :)  :)  :)  :)

Jello Cookies

  I made this recipe with two little helpers 

You might have seen my moms blog about it but here is the recipe

These cookies are really easy and turn out soft and really sweet

I have a list of things that I want to blog about this summer and picked this one so the twins could help

Ingredients

• 3.5 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 cups salted butter softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 (3 oz) pkg jello You can use any flavors you want

Instructions

1. Beat butter in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Blend in egg and vanilla. Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
2. Divide dough into 4 sections. Sprinkle 2 Tb of jello onto each section. Knead together with dough. You may want to add a few drops of food coloring to make the dough more vibrant.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in the extra jello from the packets. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets. Flatten with bottom of bowl.
4. Bake 8 to 10 min at 350 on lined baking sheets. Cool on baking sheets 2 min. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.

http://www.iheartnaptime.net/jello-cookies/

We had 4 different boxes of Jello so I let the boys pick 2 each 

We made strawberry, pineapple, orange and lemon 

I didn't use all the Jello so I put it  in bags so I could make these again

The dough doesn't stain your fingers and can be used as play dough also

They were really good cookies but the strawberry and pineapple were very sweet but of course you can use any flavor 

Here are my little helpers with the final product 

Neither of them are looking at the camera;)

:)  :)  :)  :) Culinary Artist in Training :)  :)  :)  :)

Coffee Cake with Apple Cinnamon Filling

I made this recipe Mother's Day morning

I had to wake up at 6:30 on a Sunday to make this, my mom is lucky I love her :)

It was really good if you like apples

I got this recipe off of my Master Cook program which I LOVE, thanks Grandpa

APPLE FILLING AND TOPPING:
2 tablespoons cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
5 cups sliced apples such as Granny Smith (5 to 6)
CAKE:
2 cups sugar
1 cup applesauce
4 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup orange juice
1 pinch salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-cup tube or bunt pan with Pam cooking spray.

2. Combine cinnamon and sugar and set aside 1 tablespoon. Toss prepared apples with remainder and set aside.

3. For the cake, whisk together sugar, applesauce, vanilla, OJ, salt, and eggs. Combine flour, baking powder, and nutmeg and fold into sugar mixture.

4. Spoon a little more than one third of the batter into prepared pan. Cover with half of apple mixture, then spoon in remaining batter and apple slices. Sprinkle top lightly with the reserved cinnamon-sugar.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until done. Loosen sides with a butter knife, then invert cake onto a plate for serving.

Its is really good hot but my family preferred it cold

Sorry it is so late but I had alot of end of the school year projects that had to be finished

  :)  :)  :)  :) Culinary Artist in Training :)  :)  :)  :)