cookie carnival :: toasted almond lemon bars!

well, it's time for the april round-up. but you won't find it here! holly at phemomenon will be putting that together this month. she's our guest host and a fabulous baker.

for this month's cookie, she chose a Toasted Almond Lemon Bar. from the The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy.


for some reason i kept putting off making these. i'm not sure why. maybe it's because i knew they would not go over well with the boys in the house and then i'd end up eating more of them. or maybe because i kept forgetting to buy almonds! in any case, i did make them and they are DELICIOUS. super lemony. but sweet enough. and the crust is really yummy. i baked off the bit of extra that i had into a cookie for the munchkins to share and they were begging for "just ONE more piece?" so, that's a good sign! i think it was my favorite aspect of the cookie as well. i'm not a huge fan of the lemon bar in general, but if i were to make them again, i'd certainly go back to this recipe. . . maybe next time try lime or orange! mmmm!

here is the recipe if you are interested in trying it out:

Toasted Almond Lemon Bars

Makes 1 dozen bars

For the Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds, lightly toasted
1/2 teaspoon salt
20 Tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

For the Lemon Filling:
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 7 lemons)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for sprinkling

To Toast the Almonds:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden and you can smell them. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Before You Start:
Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Make a parchment "sling" by cutting two pieces of parchment paper, measuring 16 1/2 inches long by 12 inches wide (you can also use aluminum foil). Place one piece across the length, and the other across the width of the pan, with the excess hanging over the edges. You will use this sling later to lift the finished bar from the pan. Spray the sling with the cooking spray.

To Make the Crust:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the flour, sugar, almonds, and salt to combine. Add the cold butter in pieces and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball.

2. Turn the dough out into the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom and 1 1/4 inches up the sides. (This crust, once it is baked, needs to act as a liner in which to pour the liquidy lemon filling. So be sure to do a good job of pressing the dough up the sides - no cracks!). Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil, and fill with pie weights ( you can use dried beans or uncooked rice as pie weights as well). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly golden. Carefully remove the pie weights and the liner and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the whole crust is golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

To Make the Filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the almond extract and flour, and whisk until smooth. Add the lemon juice, and whisk to combine.

To Complete the Bars:
1. Pour the lemon filling into the prepared crust. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is firm and lightly golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

2. When cool use the parchment sling to lift the entire bar from the pan and onto a cutting board. Slice into twelve 3 x 3 1/2 - inch bars. Remove from the pan and, using a small sifter, dust with the confectioners' sugar.

The bars keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Do not unwrap before defrosting. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

autumnal yummies :: apple crisp!

a couple of days ago we finally got out and did some serious apple picking. it was a GORGEOUS day. the sun was out. clear skies. 67 degrees. perfect.

all the way there and all the way home all we could talk about was the yummy things we were going to make with them. the first up on the list :: apple crisp. a must for all New Englanders.

and it must be had with *good* vanilla ice cream. which i promptly sent hubby out to get as soon as the desserty goodness came out of the oven.

here's our recipe. (handed down from generations.....or adapted from 2 different recipes i found online).

APPLE CRISP

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup a.p. flour
1/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not the quick-cook kind)
3 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

:: preheat oven to 350 degrees. in a large bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar and salt. cut butter into flour, using a pastry blender or two knives, until mixture is the texture of coarse meal. add oats, stir into clumps. put bowl in the refrigerator while you prepare the apples.



:: in a shallow baking dish toss the apples and cinnamon. sprinkle with topping mixture. bake until golden and bubbling, 55 to 65 minutes. let cool 10 minutes before serving. scoop into bowls and top with vanilla ice cream.


ENJOY!

cookie carnival :: may round-up!

it's round-up time!

i am so excited to say that this is our biggest carnival yet--12 participants came through. which is so great! i'm thrilled to have all these folks focusing our food obsession on cookies once a month with me.

on to this month's cookie! from Emeril (bam!) came our recipe for
BLUEBERRY DROP COOKIES. i have to say, i LOVED these cookies. they were one of the things i baked for the bake sale i told you about recently. yum. they were light and airy while still being moist---tasty! i made a few tweaks to the recipe which i noted below.

this recipe also marked the first time i ever used shortening. i usually balk at it...just the *idea* of it, but this time i thought, "i'll trust good ol' emeril and see what it's like." it certainly made a light cookie--like little blueberry-lemon cloud, they were. so, i can see why peeps use the shortening. so, thanks emeril!


BLUEBERRY DROP COOKIES

ingredients:

* one-half cup shortening
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* one-fourth cup milk
* one-half teaspoon almond extract i omited this--thought i had some in the cabinet, but didn't, so i used a bit of vanilla and added some fresh lemon juice to kick up the lemon aspect, which was yum.
* one and one-half teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* One-half teaspoon salt
* 1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over i used frozen.

instructions:
1. in a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, milk, almond extract and lemon zest, mixing well after the addition of each ingredient. slowly add the flour, baking powder and

salt. fold in the blueberries and mix until well blended. since i used frozen and feared they would make the dough a soppy mess, i did not add blueberries at this stage, but rather let the dought chill w/o 'em.

2. cover and chill for 4 hours. preheat oven to 375 degrees. drop the dough by teaspoonfuls, (i added the frozen blueberries to each spoonful) one and one-half inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. bake 12 to 15 minutes. remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula.

Makes about 4 dozen. mine did not yield nearly this many. mine might have been a *tad* large, but not my too much and i only got 2 dozen out of it.

let's find out how everyone else did! i hope i got all the right pics with the right people and the links to all of your posts in there properly. if anyone finds an error, email me. i'm starting to see double here!

first there's holly over at Phemomenon.

she's funny because she is a self-proclaimed food "fiddler." she loves to tweak the recipes and i love that. here's a bit of her post. "In the beginning I was just going to substitute half the shortening with some butter, just for flavor, just because. Then, I got thinking about how much I love orange with blueberry, so I switched out the lemon." read the rest on her blog.

Jen, the Beantown Baker is next.though she's been on the email list for a while now, this is her first entry in the carnival and we're so happy to have her. read her post (and many others!) here.

on to hygeian at Phamished.

she give some great bits on the health benefits of blueberries. read her post here.

sihan of Fundamentally Flawed is up next.

here's a bit of her blog post. "A simple recipe that calls for minimal ingredients yet yield such a delectable goodie all a very short span of time. We're talking about express cookies on the go over here! *yum*." read the rest here.

next we have april and Abby Sweets.


she also went for the vanilla rather than the almond. it's fun to see how people like to change things up. read her post here.

tiffany of Lattes and Life is next. isn't that a good blog name?

she has a fun little tale to tell about how she got a hold of her blueberries. check out her post here.

robin of Made With Love is up next.

she also found that the recipe didn't yield as much as it said it would. so, thanks robin for helping me feel less crazy! read her post here.

next up is temperance at High on the Hog.


this is her first carnival and her post cracked me up. here's a bit of it. "Thoughts while baking...Pure almond extract may smell good but you really don't want to try it. Also Ammaretto is not an adequate substitute (darn it). I have always wondered when you zest a lemon what are you suppose to do with the rest of it?" read the rest of her post here.

and on to the hilarous kitty over at Boring History Girl. she's had trouble with nearly every cookie recipe, but bless her heart she keeps at it!!! i love getting her emails. check out her post here.

next up is megan over at My Baking Adventures


she also has the food "fiddler" bug. she omitted the BLUEBERRIES. cookie carnival renegade is what she is. here's a bit of her post. "Now, being the person that I am, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I asked Kate if I could try a different fruit, as blueberries aren’t too popular with certain family members. And I felt really silly asking her that, considering the name of the cookies are BLUEBERRY Drop Cookies." read on HERE.

on to steph over at Steph Chows.


now it's getting just silly. she also tweaked the recipe. the fun thing about hers is that she tricked them out health-food style. check her post here.

finally, we have megan over at Megan's Cookin'.

she noted that the unbaked little cookie dough lumps look sorta like aliens. it's true. check out her post here.

whew! that's all 12 of you! hooray! thanks, everyone for participating. JUNE'S cookie recipe is coming soon.

i stand corrected---THIRTEEN of you. we had a late comer to the round-up. mari of Mevrouw Cupcake!she paired hers with lemon ice cream and frankly, the thought of this has me just squealing with delight over here. i can't believe that i can't try a bite of it right at this very moment. she's got a great post up telling her tale of baking these little beauties and a great book recommendation, to. i've already got it on hold at the library. thanks, mari! better late than never!



happy summer!