Meyer Lemon Bars

and what do you do when life gives you meyer lemons? mmake meyer lemons bars!!

here is a recipe to try http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/meyer-lemon-bars/

none of my local grocery places have meyer lemons. before christmas we went to costco and we saw lemons, not only normal lemons but MEYER lemons. omg i love this lemon sooo much, we took some of the seeds and we planted them! and guess what? one is growing now!!

went back to costco on thursday and boooom they had them again so i had to make some more bars and take some more seeds!

Fig "newtons" Bars

Bought some frozen figs and didnt know what to do so ...fig newtons it is!

The recipe I got from here: Fig newtons

Filling:
1 cup finely chopped dried Black Mission figs
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup apple juice (I used a little more apple juice and a little less water)
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon grated orange zest

Cookie Dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

(If I were you, I’d make a batch and a half of dough to go with a single batch of filling…otherwise, you’re going to have leftover filling…which you could use as a spread…kind of similar to apple butter…but with figs.)

1. Make the filling: Combine the figs, water, apple juice and sugar in a medium sauceapan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook at a bare simmer for 1-2 hours until the figs are so soft that they’re spreadable.

2. Transfer to a food processor or blender, add the orange zest and process until smooth. Remove from the food processor and allow to cool. (I made it the night before.)

3. Make the dough: Cream together the butter, sugar and orange zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, for 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl and paddle. Add the egg white and vanilla and beat in. Scrape down the bowl and paddle again. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. (I refrigerated it overnight…it was easier to work with that way!)

4. Place racks in middle and lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12 x 16 rectangle. Cut into 4 equal strips, each 12 x 4 inches. Spoon a line of filling down the center of each strip. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the edges together. Place on the parchment-lined baking sheets, seam side down. (Don’t roll the dough into a rectangle this large if you want your job to be easy…I rolled the dough a little smaller and a little thicker and it worked great!)

6. Using a serrated knife, slice each log on the diagonal into 10 cookies. (I popped them in the freezer for 10 minutes before slicing them.) Bake, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

christmas goodies!

For the past 5 years I have been baking my christmas gifts, this year..

..i made brownies, pecan pie bars, pumpkin truffles, its not a snicker but a chuckle bars, peanut butter balls, fudgeeo truffles, almond joy, lemon squares, pumpkin cake balls, nutter balls and nutella meringues! :♥)

Da Brownie!

I am totally in love with my brownie recipe! :♥)

Crunchy Peanut Butter Brownies

I'm addicted to this recipe, my no fail brownie recipe! You can do anything with it by adding all kinds of yummy goodies like marshmallows, nuts, chocolate chips, caramels, peanut butter!!

1/2 cup Butter (melted)

1/2 cup Coco Powder

1 cup Sugar

2 large Eggs

1tbsp Coffee

1 tsp Vanilla

3/4 cup Flour

1/4 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Crunchy Peanut Butter

In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined. Stir in vanilla and coffee, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not over mix). 

Place half the batter in 8x8 parchment lined pan then spread the crunchy peanut butter and cover with the remaining batter. Bake at 350. DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup Cream warmed up in a sauce pan and add in 1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces, stir until all melted! Top on brownies! :♥)

Lemony Lemon Squares

I'm REALLY loving the lemon lately!!

1 cup REAL Butter (NO Substitutes :D ..no no no)

2 cup Flour

1/2 cup Cornstarch

1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

1 large Lemon 

In a small bowl, zest the lemon. In a separate bowl, juice the lemon and take 2 tbsp of the juice for the dough. Set aside the remaining lemon juice for the filling below! 

Combine all ingredients with the lemon zest & 2 tbsp juice in a electric mixer stand until it has a smooth consistency!  Place in 8x8 parchment lined pan or a 6x9 and bake until golden on 375, about 10-12 minutes!

Filling 

1 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Cornstarch

1/8 tsp Salt

1 large Lemons (zest and juice)

1/2 cup Lemon Juice (i like extra lemony taste)

2 Eggs 

1 1/2 cup Boiling Hot Water

3 tbsp Chilled Butter

~In a medium pot, whisk up the sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon zest and juices with the eggs until well blended. 

~Place on stove, on med heat; whisk in the boiling hot water and whisk until it thickens, remove from heat and add in chilled butter! Pour on top of shortbread crust and chill for a few hours. 

Coffee Brownies

Craving chocolate and I see that little fairies put chocolate coffee brownies in my oven!! :♥) 

1/2 cup Butter (melted)

1/2 cup Coco Powder

1 cup Sugar

2 large Eggs

1/2 cup Coffee

1 tsp Vanilla

3/4 cup Flour

1/4 tsp Salt

1 bag Milk Chocolate Chips

In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined. Stir in vanilla and coffee, chocolate chips, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not over mix). 

Bake at 350. DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup Cream warmed up and add in 1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces, stir until all melted! Top on brownies

Caramel Fudge Brownie Poppers!

I used my Butter Rum Caramel Brownies recipe but I let the caramel cook longer so it would be a toffee like texture and didnt add the rum at all. I let the caramel harden/cool and then i cut it into small pieces and covered the brownie mixture, pushing into the batter. I grabbed a spoon and spread the batter over the caramel! I topped with chocolate mini fudge filled chips! These are heavenly for sure! I cut the brownies in little bite size pieces so you can just pop one in your mouth! De-lish!:♥)

Nanaimo Bars

First time ever I made these bars!! I actually don't like nanaimo bars because I'm not a fan of icing. These were actually really good, although I'd thin out the chocolate for a better look!  :♥)

1 cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Butter

1 1/4 cup Graham Wafer Crumbs

1 cup Coconut

1/2 cup Walnuts or Pecans

2 cups Icing Sugar

1/4 cup Butter, softened

3 tsp Milk

2 tbsp Custard powder

1 tsp Vanilla

3/4 cup Chocolate Chips

2 tps Vegetable Oil

In medium saucepan over low heat (or in large bowl in microwave) melt chocolate chips and butter. Stir in graham wafer crumbs, coconut and nuts. Press it evenly into 9-inch square pan. Chill in the frigde for about 30 minutes. OR put it out in the cold like I did lol

In small bowl, blend icing sugar, butter, milk, custard powder, vanilla and spread evenly over chilled base.

Melt chocolate chips with vegetable oil over hot water (or in microwave). Spread evenly over filling. Chill. Cut into bars and watch the icing ooze out LOL

Peanut Butter "whatever shape you want" Balls

These are a hit every christmas! Each year I have requests to make more and I cant blame them! Between the crunch of the rice crispies and the creamy peanut butter covered in a silky milk chocolate coating!!
nom nom mm :♥)

1 cup Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Butter

1 cup Icing Sugar

2 cup Rice Crispies

1 cup Walnuts (chopped)

1 bag Milk Chocolate Chips

2 tsp Cooking Wax

Parchment Paper

~In a bowl, combine peanut butter, butter and icing sugar together. Add in the rice crispies and nuts. Chill for 30 minutes.

~Roll in to 1 inch balls and lay on the wax paper atop a cookie sheet. I like to chill/freeze before dipping!

~In a pot, melt wax and chocolate chips on lowest heat, stirring often until almost melted. Do not overheat. Stir until smooth, remove from heat. If chocolate becomes too thick for dipping, reheat on low until desired consistency.

~Place 1 ball on fork. Dip into chocolate until coated, allowing excess to drip back into the pot. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet, cover fork holes and chill to set, for about 1 hour.

Classic No Bake Snowballs

This is a childhood classic for me! I make these every year at christmas, brings back happy memories! :♥)

1 1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Coco

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup Butter

2 cups Coconut

3 cups Rolled Oats

In a sauce pan, bring to a boil sugar, coco and milk. 
Add in butter and remove from heat. 
Stir in 1 cup coconut and oats. 
Chill for 30 minutes or cool to touch. 
Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in 1 cup coconut and store in freezer.

Its better to eat them straight from the freezer in my opinion. :♥)

Butter Rum Caramel Brownies

• Butter Rum Caramel
• 
  
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbs light corn syrup
• 1 tsp Rum
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 
  

~In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt. Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved. set aside.

~In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt.

~Cook over high heat until candy thermometer reads 350 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Without a thermometer, just pull the sugar off the heat when it is a medium goldish brown – it will continue to cook in the heat of the pan. Better to pull it too early than too late. Remove from the heat and let cool for one minute.

~Add the cream mixture and the rum to the sugar mixture. Whisk in the sour cream then the butter. Let the caramel cool to room temp, then follow the brownie instructions.

Best Brownies Ever

1/2 cup Butter (melted)

1/2 cup Coco Powder

1 cup Sugar

2 large Eggs

2 tbsp Coffee

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup Flour

1/4 tsp Salt

In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined. Stir in vanilla and coffee, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not over mix).

Bake at 350. DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean.

~To build the brownies, pour a little over half of the brownie batter and bake. Remove from oven and pour in the caramel. On top of the caramel, add the rest of your brownie batter. If it doesn’t pour smoothly, just plop it in and swirl it around a little bit. Return to oven and bake. Brownies will still appear a little shaky, due to the caramel, but they will firm up once cooled. Do not over bake!!

Oreo Truffles

Oreo truffles, mmm! These are rich and creamy yet soo good that you'll be going back for more. They are soo simple to make and just think, you can use any type of cookie you'd think would be good as a truffle! I love eating them straight from the freezer! :♥)

1 box (big) Oreo Cookies

1 pkg of Light Cream Cheese (softened)

2 bags of  Milk Chocolate Chips

1 inch chunk Cooking Wax (grated)

1/4 cup Chocolate Sprinkles

With a food processor, pulse the oreo cookies into fine crumbs. In a large bowl, blend the oreos and cream cheese together.

Roll into 1/2 balls, Chill for 1 hour.

In a small pot, melt chocolate and wax on minimum. With a toothpick or fork, roll oreo ball in chocolate and lay on parchment paper. Then top the sprinkles right away on each ball as the chocolate will start to harden.

Chill for another hour and enjoy!