Summer is the perfect time for bright, citrus desserts. These lemon bars are light and luscious at the same time. Super easy to throw together and a wonderful addition to any dessert bar.
LEMON BARS
What you need for the lemon bars:
Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Filling:
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
Zest of one large lemon
6 tablespoons all purpose flour
To make the lemon bars:
1. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease or butter a 9x13 pan.
3. Mix the flour, powdered sugar and salt for the crust in a bowl. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Pour crumble mixture into prepared pan and press into bottom. You might want to put some butter or Crisco on your fingers to prevent the flour from clumping on your finger tips. I swear this is the most tedious part of the recipe and is well worth the effort! Just keep pressing until a solid crust is formed.
5. Bake for 20 minutes in your 350 degree oven.
6. Meanwhile, prepare your filling. Zest and juice your lemons (careful to remove any seeds) into a large bowl.
7. Add the remaining filling ingredients (sugar, flour, eggs) to the bowl and beat on medium for about one minute.
8. When crust comes out of the oven, pour the lemon mixture on top and place back in the oven for another 25-30 minutes until edges are golden brown.
9. Let cool for an hour then loosen the edges from the pan and transfer to a wire rack or cutting board.
10. Let cool another few hours. Cut into bars and serve or place in the refrigerator.
ENJOY!
PS. Teddy was a bit distraught yesterday as we had to move some of his toys and furniture around...once his house was back where it belonged, he wouldn't leave it. Had to claim his territory I guess...Here's a pic of him just hanging out :)
Last week I saw an image of a cupcake on one of my friends' Facebook walls. They said it was a dark chocolate cupcake. I've had chocolate cake, I've had devils food cake but I haven't had or made a dark chocolate cake. So of course, I decided I had to try! Over the past few weeks, my go-to for cupcakes has been a boxed cake mix with an added package of instant pudding. I swear you get the most moist, rich, decadent cupcake by doing this. Why switch up a good thing? I was on a hunt to find a dark chocolate cake mix and dark chocolate instant pudding. To my surprise, I was in luck on both accounts! And who doesn't love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter? That made the frosting part pretty easy...just had to find the right consistency and I promise I nailed that one, too. Make these cupcakes and you're sure to please any crowd!!
DOUBLE DARK CHOCOLATE FUDGE CUPCAKES with PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING (and filling!)
What you need for the cupcakes:
1 package of Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake mix
1 package of Hershey's Special Dark Instant Pudding (4 oz)
4 eggs (3 called for in the cake mix +1 more)
Water and oil called for in cake mix
What you need for the frosting:
1.5 cup powdered sugar
1.5 cup peanut butter
1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick of butter (room temperature)
To make the cupcakes:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line cupcake tins with liners.
3. Mix together the contents of your cake mix, instant pudding mix, eggs, water and oil. Beat at low speed until combined, about 2 minutes.
4. Bump speed up to medium on your mix and continue beating for another 3-4 minutes. Don't skimp on the beating, this will make your batter light and fluffy and in turn, makes for a delicious cupcake!!
5. Fill liners about 2/3 of the way and bake 20-24 minutes until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack.
To make the frosting:
1. This one is easy- put all the frosting ingredients in a bowl and beat until well combined. I added about another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at the end because I wanted the consistency to be a bit thicker.
Put it all together:
1. Once your cupcakes are cool, use your cupcake corer (or a knife if you don't have one) to cut out a small circle from the center of the cupcake. Save these pieces for later.
2. Fill your frosting decorator tool (bag or injector) with peanut butter frosting and fill the center hole with frosting.
3. Take the cupcake pieces you had removed from the center and break them in half. Place the top portion back onto the cupcake (on top of the filled center).
4. Refill your frosting decorator tool and frost the tops of the cupcakes.
ENJOY!!
