Lemon Bars

I love lemons. Lemon Jolly Ranchers were my favorite candy until they rudely stopped making them. Oddly, I'm not really a fan of lemon bars. These are good, though. I'm told the lemon flavor is not overwhelming. The flavor and texture are just right. The top is a bit crispy, the middle is gooey, and the crust balances the flavor.

This is the recipe that my grandma made for many family dinners and events. I remember seeing them all the time on the dessert table, but I never tried them. Lemon and a pie crust don't seem like an amazing combination to me, but a lot of people love lemon bars. If you are one of those people, make this recipe. You won't regret it!

Lemon Bars (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
2 C flour
1/2 C powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 C shortening
4 eggs
2 C sugar
4 T lemon juice
1 T flour
1 lemon rind grated (optional)
extra powdered sugar for sprinkling

Stir together the 2 C flour, powered sugar, and salt with a fork. Add the shortening. Cut the shortening into the flour with the fork until well blended and crumbly (similar to making pie crust). If you have a pastry blender, that can be used instead of a fork.

Pour the flour crumbs into a greased 9x13 pan. Press the flour crumbs down evenly. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until just browned.

When the crust has about 5 minutes left to bake, beat the eggs until light and bubbly. Gradually beat in the sugar. Mix in the flour and lemon juice.

Remove the crust from the oven and pour the lemon mixture on top. Return to the oven for 25 minutes. The top will brown and it may even crack.

After baking, let the pan of lemon bars cool slightly. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

When mostly cooled, cut into bars with a sharp knife and remove with a spatula. Let cool completely on a plate.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Here marks recipe 2 in the "count down to Christmas baking" series of posts. Delicious peanut butter cookies. They are also known as "criss-cross cookies", in case you didn't know. At least they are according to my boyfriend. He sometimes is correct.

This is the peanut butter cookie recipe I grew up with. No other recipe can compare. If you over-bake them, however, they will get rock hard and hurt your teeth. Try to avoid doing that, okay? Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

1 C shortening

1 C granulated sugar

1 C brown sugar (packed)

1 C peanut butter

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

2 1/2 C flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

First, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together the shortening, sugars, and peanut butter.

Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix until just combined.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Repeat with the remaining half of the flour mixture.

Form the dough into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten the dough balls by pressing a criss-cross pattern into them with a fork dipped in flour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet a minute or two before placing the cookies on a cooling rack.

Makes 4 dozen cookies. 

Towel Catnip Heart Cat Toy

Tess loves towels. Whenever towels are being folded, she's right there and ready to steal one to cuddle. I have a few old towels and wash cloths, so it was time to turn one of those into a toy for Tess! She appreciated it immensely!

Materials Needed:

old towel or wash cloth

paper and pencil (or printer)

scissors

marker

pins

needle and thread

Fiberfil

catnip

First, draw a heart slightly larger than you want the finished toy to be. If you can't draw a heart to your satisfaction, feel free to use the template below! Simply click the image, save to your computer, then resize it before printing.

Cut out the heart template. Trace the heart onto the towel or wash cloth with your marker. Fold or wash cloth in half (or cut out the two hearts separately!). If you fold the material, pin the two layers together to prevent shifting to make cutting easier.

Pin the two heart pieces together along the outside edge.

Sew along the edges, leaving approximately 2 inches open. I decided to hand sew and used a backstitch, but you can use a machine if you want!

Turn the heart right-side out. Stuff the heart with a mixture of Fiberfil and catnip. Pin the open edges together and sew closed.

Present the toy to your very lucky cat!

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every year for Christmas I've helped make a ton of cookies. This is something that has happened in my family since before I can remember participating. I would spend a weekend at my grandparents' house helping them make hundreds of cookies. The cookies would then be separated into nice containers and distributed. Of course, plenty would be left over for us to enjoy. In the past few years, the amount of cookies produced has decreased, but the yearly tradition of spending at least a day in the kitchen baking continues. As a result, a single batch of cookies now seems like a foolishly small quantity.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, this post marks the first in my new Saturday series of posts. The series will present the recipes and directions for making all of the Christmas Cookies I will be making this year! Right now the list has 13 types of cookies, two of which have already been posted (butter cookies & oatmeal). I'll post plenty of pictures in December showing my day of baking and the beautiful layout of cookies cooling on the table.

First up: Chocolate chip cookies!

When I make chocolate chips, I usually follow the recipe on the back of the bag of Nestle Chocolate Chips. The only variation I tend to make is that I add extra flour until the cookie dough isn't very sticky. Within the past year, I learned that if you add a box of vanilla pudding mix to the recipe, then the cookies will stay soft. This does work and most people seem to like the cookies this way. It changes the flavor of the cookie some, but that isn't too noticeable.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

2 1/4 C flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt (optional and only if you use unsalted butter!)

1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 C butter, softened

3/4 C granulated sugar

3/4 C brown sugar, packed

1 t vanilla extract

2 large eggs

12-oz package of Nestle Toll House Chocolate chips

First, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pudding mix.

Place the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and beat together until creamy.

Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Slowly stir in the flour mixture. I poured in half of the flour mixture and stirred until combined and repeated with the second half.

Add the delicious chocolate chips. Stir until they seem evenly distributed into the dough.

Place spoonfuls of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before relocating the cookies to a cooling rack.

Oh, Fudge: Peanut Butter Fudge

This marks fudge recipe #1 of 15 or so. I will be making at least one new fudge recipe per month.

I am highly amused by the plethora of fudge recipes that are in the cookbooks which I now own. The one cookbook alone has 13 different fudge recipes! I, personally, am not a huge fan of fudge. Before this post, I never once attempted to make it. Fortunately (or not) for everyone around me, I am going to be overdosing the world on fudge. By the end of this sugary adventure, I shall be a master at making this creamy candy.

The choice of peanut butter fudge for the first recipe to make was not made by me. I took a vote. A vote of one person. He chose peanut butter fudge. You are now at his mercy.

This fudge is very soft and creamy. The peanut butter flavor is not overwhelming. It is mostly perfect. I think I may have under-heated the sugar during the boiling process because the fudge is rather soft. However, it is possible that the fudge is supposed to be this way. We can assume that and pretend I did everything to 100% perfection.

Peanut Butter Fudge (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
2 C sugar
2/3 C milk
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow cream
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 t vanilla

The first thing to do is heat the milk and sugar over medium heat to boiling while stirring constantly. To ensure an even heating, you can use a heavy bottomed pot. I don't have one of those that aren't overly large for a single batch, so I just used a normal metal pot.

Once the milky sugar reaches a boil, cover it with a lid. Let it boil on its own for 2 minutes (no stirring!) and then uncover it. It will now look like a bubbly mess. It requires no more stirring.

Continue to boil the milk sugar until it reaches the soft ball stage; that is, 240 degrees F. There are two ways to determine if it has reached this stage. The first, obviously, is to use a candy thermometer. Alternatively, you can drop a small amount of the liquidy sugar into a glass of cold water. At the soft ball stage, the sugar will form a soft ball in the water. When removed from the water, the ball will flatten to a pancake shape.

When the boiling milky sugar has reached the soft ball stage, remove it from the heat. Add the marshmallow cream, peanut butter, and vanilla. Gently stir this mixture together until just combined. It is fine if it remains a bit marbled.

Pour the blended mixture into a buttered 8 inch square pan. Place in a refrigerator until well chilled. Cut into pieces and serve. Be sure to serve the fudge to people with a sly grin on your face, because, clearly, you will be making each of these fudge recipes. They have no idea you intend to put them into a sugar coma. You are such a nice friend.

Wordless Wednesday: Butterflies

These pictures were taken at the Cleveland  Metroparks Zoo.

(This one ^ is my favorite one!)

Hungarian Coffee Cake

This recipe comes from a church cookbook published in 1964 that I got from my grandmother. It's a collection of "favorite recipes" from the members of the women's group. I will be referring back to this cook book in the future as it has a lot of nice recipes.

The interesting thing with using an old recipe is that the terminology has changed so much. I find myself looking up terms that don't really make sense in a modern context. Here is what I learned from this recipe:
"Bake in a moderate oven" means "bake at 350 degrees F".

This coffee cake is nice and sweet. Baked goods made with lots of brown sugar are very appealing to me. I will be making this again! I don't drink coffee, so I'm not sure how well it goes with coffee.

Hungarian Coffee Cake (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 C butter or margarine (softened)
2 t cinnamon
1/2 salt
1 t baking soda
1 C milk

Combine the flour, sugar, butter, and cinnamon. I omitted the salt because the butter I used was salted. Blend the ingredients until it "resembles a coarse meal". That just means it will be crumbly looking. Take out a cupful of this mixture for the topping. You only need about 3/4 C.

Add the baking soda and mix it in well. Mix in the milk. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl while mixing.

Pour the batter into a 9 inch square pan. (Increase the bake time if you use a smaller pan!) Sprinkle the cupful of mixture on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Wordless Wednesday: More Sleeping Animals!

I think it's always nap time here.

(I woke up Tess when I took the picture. Oops!)