Copy Cat Lion House Lemon Bars

I love lemon bars, but up until now I had only made them once. For some reason I was under some delusion that they were difficult to make. My mom didn't make them when we were kids so maybe that's why I thought they were hard.

I started off with a stick of butter softened then added some powdered sugar. Creamed them together and then realized I needed two sticks of butter and more powdered sugar. The first batch took me longer than it should have, I blame kids for making me space cadet. Or more of one.

Here it is all creamed together.

Add some flour.

Mix it all up and you have a crust.

Being a lemon bar novice I wasn't sure if you were supposed to put the dough up the pan or not, I just did it. Which ended up being perfect.

I put my eggs in a bowl.

Mixed those lightly.

Then remembered, oh right I needed four eggs not two. Thanks kids.

I did however remember to add the right amount of sugar.

Then I added the thickening flour.

I asked my husband to pick me up some lemon's since he works right next to Wal-Mart. He picked these Dandy's up. That's what they were, Dandy's not lemons. I had never heard of one before but apparently they are lemon's and mandarin oranges mixed. It makes for a sweeter lemon, although it's still not something I would just munch on. They do have the most beautiful color though.

Added some zest.

Here's the dough done.

Once you pull it out of the oven pour the filling in immediately. 

Cook it for a few minutes and it comes out looking like this. Make sure to add some powdered sugar on top. Just looking at these pictures makes me want to bake another batch.

The reason I made these was because we had a Young Women activity where we were introducing the 2012 theme, which is Arise and Shine Forth. I made some lemonade to go along with the lemon bars and called it 'bottled sunshine'.

Yep, going to need to make another batch.

Lemon Bars
(Adapted from: Our Favorite Recipes)
Crust:
1 cup butter or margarine softened
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons powder sugar
2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream together the butter and powder sugar. Add the flour and mix. Press into 9x13 pan going up the side of the pan half way. Bake for 15 minutes.

Filling:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons lemon juice
grated rind of 1 lemon

Beat eggs slightly and add the sugar, flour, juice, and rind. Mix and pour over hot crust immediately after removing from oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powder sugar. Cut into squares and serve.

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Lemonade Cupcakes

I've actually had root beer cupcakes on my mind but they just intimidate me. Not sure why, just do. I'll man up just letting the thoughts brew. I was looking in my kids closet because that's where I keep my cake mixes (we're tight on room). I saw the lemon cake mix and knew I had to do something with it.

Here's my cake mix with some water.

I added the oil and sour cream but before I could take a picture my daughter decided it was time to mix. Oh well.

I added the eggs and had to take a quick picture before my daughter decided to break them. The pull of eggs is strong but the wrath of mothers is stronger.
Mix up the batter throw it in your muffin pan and cook.

While it's cooking start the filling. This filling is like a lemon meringue filling. Lemon and water plus some cornstarch.

Two eggs. Like two peas in a pod.

Break them if your mother will let you.

Once their broken add some of the water corn starch mix but not enough to cook it. We don't want cooked egg yolk in the middle of the cupcake.

Pour the egg mix back in the lemon juice and water mix and then add some butter and sugar. This batch only made a little so if you want a lot in your cupcakes I suggest doubling it.

Cut your hole in the cupcake once they're cool.

Fill it with your lemon meringue filling.

Make up some butter cream frosting and top them off.

Ingredients:
1 lemon cake mix
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degree.

Combine cake mix, sour cream, water, vegetable oil and eggs. Mix together pour into muffin pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Filling:
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sugar

Combine lemon juice and water in a pot over medium heat. Mix in corn starch a little at a time, stirring constantly. Once ingredients are combine beat egg yolks. Pour some of the corn starch mixture into the egg yolks being careful not to cook the eggs. Blend together. Pour eggs back into corn starch mix and blend together. Mix in butter and sugar and remove from heat once butter is melted.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I decided to try making some strawberry lemonade cupcakes yesterday. The result? Not great. I'm going to have to play around with these. I made a strawberry cake that ended up being heavy, not the light and fluffy cupcakes I usually enjoy. That was the first thing to go wrong. When I attempted the filling, a lemon pie type filling, it ended up being very, very lemony. When I got to the frosting I thought everything would straighten out and I would be able to salvage them, wrong. I started off with my usual basic buttercream frosting and then added pureed strawberries, apparently too much pureed strawberries because I then had to add 10 cups of powdered sugar! The frosting ended up being alright but it was too sweet. The cupcake ended up being fine but delicious? No. I've been thinking about how to fix the recipe all day. Once I pick up some more cupcake liners I'll be back on this recipe.