Lemon Squares

I promise, my baking repertoire includes more than just layer cakes! Take these lemon squares for instance.  They're not overly sweet, but they have a strong lemony flavor.  My only complaint about lemon squares is that after you've completed the none-too-short tasks of juicing and zesting the lemons, putting together the crust, and baking the final treats, you're left with... lemon bars.  They taste great, but as I stare at my bare, disemboweled lemons, I always feel like I've earned something just a little fancier.

Three cake orders in the next week though, so many more layer cakes to come!  And a really fun Daring Bakers Challenge this Thursday - stay tuned!

Mint Chocolate Brownies for St. Patrick's Day

It's spring!!  Still a little chilly out there, and it's not very sunny out today... but I saw some flower buds beginning to push their way out of the ground yesterday on a walk.  And the birds have been singing.  It's still light out at 5:30, and tomorrow it will still be light out at 6:30!  And the number one sign of spring for me? I'm wearing my flip flops again!  Hooray for spring. 

Need to make something yummy for St. Patrick's day?  These brownies converted some mint-chocolate skeptics I know, including me!  Personally, I've always been more a fan of the toffee flavored Andes candies than the mint chocolate ones, but these brownies surprised me.  Yummy, and you feel minty fresh after you eat one!  And, hey, you can always add some green food coloring if you feel so compelled.

Mint Chocolate Brownies (Adapted from King Arthur)

For the Brownie Layer

3/4 cup butter (12 tablespoons), melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon mint extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder



Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spray a 9 x 13 pan with baking spray.

Stir together the melted butter, sugar, and salt.  Mix in the cocoa powder, beating until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating just until each egg is incorporated.  Beat in the mint extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.  Stir in to the batter, and then pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Use a spatula to smooth the batter.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until set (a cake tester or toothpick should come out with just a few crumbs).  Cool completely.

For the Mint Frosting Layer 3 cups confectioners' sugar 6 tablespoons melted butter 3-4 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon mint extract Green food coloring, if desired. Stir together all the ingredients until smooth.  Spread evenly over the cooled brownie layer. For the Ganache 1 cup chocolate chips 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for one minute, then stir until smooth.  Pour over the frosting layer, and smooth.    Chill for a few hours, if possible, to make cutting the brownies easier.  Enjoy!

S'mores Bars and Other Things That Make Me Smile

I love to make complicated multifaceted desserts, the kind that require careful planning and preparation, the kind that will definitely impress the crowd.  But it's also great to just be able to quickly toss a few ingredients together and still get the delicious aroma of fresh baked goods wafting out of the oven and through the house.  Plus, the child-like simplicity of a brownie or S'mores bar can't help but make me smile.  Here are some other things that always make me smile:

Puppies, especially my dog Tsuki

Little girls on Halloween

A beautiful sunrise over the ocean

A happy baby

And, p.s., here's something that definitely makes me smile:  did you know that marshmallow fluff is vegetarian? Hooray! Jello was the first meat product I gave up when I was little. I couldn't believe gelatin was an animal product. In my 17+ years of vegetarianism, though, gelatin is the only meat product I have ever ingested (knowingly anyway). It's everywhere! Infuriating...






S’More Cookie Bars (adapted from Baking Bites)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
12 ounces chocolate chips (or 2 giant-sized Hershey's chocolate bars)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with baking spray. I usually use a glass pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Press about 2/3 - 3/4 of the dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Scatter the chocolate chips evenly over the dough.

Spread the marshmallow fluff over the chocolate chips - this is harder than it sounds as the fluff wants to pull up the chocolate chips. Luckily this is the hardest step of the whole recipe. You can replace the chocolate chips with 2 giant sized (bigger than king-size) Hershey's chocolate bars which are heavier and therefore more stable under the fluff.

Scatter the remaining dough in clumps across the top of the chocolate chips. Don't leave any big gaps.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned.

Cool completely before cutting into bars (though I think they are best still warm and gooey).

Raspberry Shortbread Bars

These bars were by far the best fruit bars I've ever had. My local coffee shop (yes, there's only one in Williamstown) makes a raspberry shortbread bar that is pretty good, but I wanted to try to improve on it. These bars are not too thick, not too thin. The jam layer is thin which keeps the bars from being too gooey and messy, but it's enough to complement the shortbread. I'll definitely be making this recipe again and again, with lots of different types of jam. I think blueberry would be terrific.



And hey, there's fruit in there - it can't be that unhealthy, can it? But really, I'd so much rather have a small piece of real dessert then eat all that fake processed food. The only reduced fat food in my kitchen is my Jif reduced fat peanut butter, and that one's going to be hard to give up - I just love the taste. Luckily, I love to workout as much as I love to bake. When I teach step classes, I'm talking constantly - usually barking out steps to tell everyone what's next. But even when we start doing something more repetitive, I keep talking to take their minds off the work...but usually that means describing the big layer cake I made over the weekend or the latest treat I brought in for my students. And I'm so horrible, I never bring in any goodies to step class... bringing cookies to the gym just seems so wrong!




Recipe: (Adapted from Epicurious)

3 sticks butter
3 egg yolks
1.5 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Cream butter until soft and fluffy.

Add yolks, mix well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt to combine. Add to the butter/yolk mixture, and mix until just incorporated. Freeze dough for 2 hours (or up to one month).


Spray a 9 x 13 pan with baking spray.  Preheat oven to 350°F.  

Set aside 1/3 of the dough for the top of the raspberry bars. The remaining 2/3 of the dough will be the base for the bars. Either place the dough in the food processor, pulse a few times, then gently pat into the pan, or grate the frozen dough into the pan, being sure the dough is spread evenly over the surface of the pan. Grating the dough yields a lighter shortbread. Bake for 20 minutes.

Spread about 1 cup (I like to use a little more than a cup) of raspberry jam evenly over the dough. Use more jam (maybe 1 1/2 cups) if you want a thicker jam layer. Crumble the remaining dough over the jam. It doesn't need to cover the entire surface. Bake another 20-40 minutes until the bars are light golden brown.