Yumm-O!

I was avoiding the kitchen during my Biggest Winner competition. Last week Jeremy was asked to bring desserts to an office picnic for his department. I went a little overboard because it had been so long since I had baked anything. I made chocolate peanut butter bars, cherry crumb bars, and lemon bars. It was so fun to bake again. I just had to take some pictures and share the recipes since it has been so long since I've posted a recipe. I hope you will enjoy them! I'm just glad I didn't gain a pound after this baking extravaganza.

Cherry Crumb Bars: source - America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, modified by me

1 ½ c all-purpose flour

1 ¼ c old-fashioned rolled oats

½ cup pecans or almonds chopped fine (I am not a nut fan so I substituted ¾ c shredded coconut)

1/3 c granulated sugar

1/3 c packed brown sugar

¼ t baking soda

¼ t salt

12 T unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened

1 cup raspberry jam (I decided to use a 29 oz can of cherries [NOT cherry pie filling] from my pantry instead of the jam. I drained most of the juice from the cherries and set aside a couple of Tablespoons of juice, put the cherries in a saucepan with about ¼ cup sugar, heated them until they were boiling, mashed them a bit with my potato masher, mixed some cornstarch with the reserved cherry juice and added it to the cherries, then boiled it until it was thick like jam.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 inch pan with foil, then coat lightly with vegetable oil. I recommend following this step to make cutting easier when they're done!

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Beat the softened butter and the flour mixture together with an electric mixer on low speed until well blended, about 2-3 minutes.

Transfer two-thirds of the oat mixture to the prepared pan and press firmly into an even crust. Bake until the crust starts to turn light brown – 20 minutes.

Spread the jam (or cherries) evenly over the hot crust, then sprinkle the remaining mixture over the top. Bake until the fruit bubbles around the edges and the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack, about 2 hours, before removing the bars from the pan using the foil and cutting.

After cutting, I drizzled the bars with melted white chocolate. I also sprinkled a cup of white chocolate chips over the hot crust before adding the cherry jam.

Luscious Lemon Bars – source: Real Lemon Juice bottle - modified by me

1 ½ c plus 3 T. unsifted flour

½ c powdered sugar

¾ c cold butter

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 ½ c granulated sugar

1 t. baking powder

½ c bottled lemon juice from concentrate

Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl combine 1 ½ c flour and powdered sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. (I just combine these in my food processor and pulse until the mixture looks like wet sand, about 15 pulses) Press onto bottom of lightly greased 13x9 pan; bake for 15 minutes. (I just use cooking spray and a glass pan always makes a more golden crust)

In large bowl combine eggs, granulated sugar, 3 T flour, baking powder, and lemon juice; mix well. Pour over hot crust. Bake 20 minutes or until edges are golden.

Cool about an hour on wire rack and transfer to refrigerator for longer storage. Cut into bars. Serve cold or at room temperature. Dust liberally with powdered sugar before serving.

These were requested on a regular basis by my coworkers when I worked for a real estate investment firm years ago. The shortbread crust and tangy lemon layer are so delicious.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars - source: Friend Magazine

I figured I should include something with chocolate for the cookie platter, but after baking two treats I just didn't want to bake any more. I was thumbing through a book of recipes that I compiled when Jeremy and I first got married and found this little scrap. I clipped it from a "Friend" magazine when I was about 8 years old. I love that on the right side of the clipping you can see part of a note I wrote myself way back then. The full note said "Do these for Family Night." Now I wish I had been more careful about cutting it out so the full note would be there.

The recipe is simple - the key is to use good tasting peanut butter. There is so much sugar in the recipe that I think next time I will try using a peanut butter that doesn't have added sugar in order to bump up the peanut flavor. The peanut butter layer tastes like Reeses peanut butter cups if you get the graham crackers crushed down enough. I also think that next time I will try pressing it into a larger pan and doubling the amount of chocolate so that the peanut butter layer is thinner and there is more chocolate for coverage.