Lemon Bars Deluxe

Lemon Bars Deluxe

Hello World Wide Interweb! I'd first like to say that I feel truly blessed to be able to share all of these things that were passed down to me with the world. In the  past week I have had views from: USA, UK, Canada, Slovakia, Vietnam, Germany, Russia, and Sweden.  What a wonder way to pass a legacy on to so many people.  The first recipe I have decided to make for the year is a lemon bar. I LOVE citrus fruits. I love oranges, lemon, grapefruit... all of it! As a matter of fact, when I was pregnant with my son I would eat a bag of oranges every two days. I just couldn't get enough of it.

This recipe turned out to look and taste really impressive! The lemon filling formed a perfect crispy top, and the sweet crust that was on the bottom of the bar tasted like a great pastry cookie!  I even caught my svelte husband sneaking seconds in the kitchen (which he never does.)  I was really impressed with myself on this one. It really looked AND TASTED like a professional treat.  It tasted like one of those fruit pies you can get at the gas station ( the diet busters), but way fresher and way better.

My little helper really helped out with this recipe.  He insisted on doing every step by 'him-felf (himself)'.  As you can see from the instructional pictures below, he really was a great help... and a little bit of a challenge on my part.  But we all have to learn at some point, and as my personal philosophy- there is no better time than the present. 

I hope that you all enjoy!

Lemon Bars Deluxe

Layer One:
2 Cups sifted all purpose flour
1/2 Cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 Cup butter or margarine (butter makes it better)

Layer Two:
4 Beaten Eggs
2 Cups granulated sugar
1/3 Cup lemon juice
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
1/2 Tsp baking powder

Servings 12
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Clean Up Time: 5 minutes

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

1.  Sift together 2 Cups of flour and confectioner's sugar.

2.  Cut in softened butter or margarine

3.  Press into 13" x 9" baking pan or dish

4.  Bake at 350 for 20- 25 minutes, or until lightly brown

5. While first layer is baking; Beat together 4 eggs

5.  Stir in granulated sugar and lemon juice into eggs

6.  Sift in 1/4 Cup flour and baking powder; mix

7. Pour lemon mixture into baked crust

8.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top will become brown, and top layer will solidify slightly.

9.  Sprinkle with extra confectioner's sugar.  Cool, cut into bars.

There you have it- a yummy lemon bar recipe! There is a suggestion that you can add chopped walnuts to the lemon mixture. For me though, I like it just this way!

 As previously mentioned and sited, my little helper was a big helper this time.  Let me show you the "before and after pictures" to let you see how much he really got into it:

Before:

After:

AND....

Before:

AND After...

We had such a great time making this together.  I hope that you all have an excellent day.

One Love,

Virginia



Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had the best holiday season, and that the new year is turning out to be a successful one so far.  After a slight holiday hiatus, I am back to continue my blogging quest into my grandmother's recipe collection.  When going through my recipes to find a new one to the new year with, I ran into a lot of articles and small clippings that had cooking/baking tips.  I think that these tips are very interesting and fun, so this year, I am going to periodically add some of these tips that my grandmother saved. 

Over the holidays, my mother dropped off a picture of my grandparents when they were around my age ( or around, my grandpa was 8 years older than my grandmother.) 

From Left to Right: My grandma Elizabeth Cruden, grandfather John Cruden, Great Uncle Jack Rubino

This picture was taken around the early 1940's, because it was taken on a cross country trip visiting national parks that my grandparents took before my mom was born (my mom was born in '48.)  They took a whole summer to travel across the country. My grandfather was quite the naturalist and spent his younger years work for the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) planting pine trees in the parks of Michigan.  He really enjoyed being outdoors, and loved to garden.  After the CCC, he got a job on the General Motors factory line as a welder.  I never really got to meet him, because he died of cancer shortly after I was born.

I'm not to sure what my Great Uncle Jack Rubino did.  I remember my mother telling me that he used to sell 'stag magazines' to the factory workers.  I think my mom said that he was involved in his own family's business of some sort.

But enough about me.  My next recipe is going to be a Raisin Ribbon Bar, which I will post very shortly.  For today, I decided that I would post one of my grandmother's cooking/ baking tips.  I hope maybe google can tag me on some these!

Tip of the Day

Substitute For Condensed Milk

"Ever wonder what you might do as substitution for a can of sweetened condensed milk?  Here's a simple recipe which fills the bill perfectly.  What it makes is equivalent to a 14- ounce can of regular sweetened condensed milk."

Substitute Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Cup instant powdered milk

1/3 Cup boiling water

3 Tbps Butter, melted

2/3 Cup granulated sugar

1/2 Tsp Vanilla

Dash Salt

Combine powdered milk, boiling water; melted butter, sugar, vanilla and salt in the blender.  Process until smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.

Hope that this helps someone out!! Again I wish everyone the best New Years.  Please look forward to all of my new 2011 posts!

One Love,

Virginia