Old Fashioned Lemon Bars

 

OLD FASHIONED LEMON BARS

Hello dear Friends and happy Thursday to you. 

I had a girlfriend over the other night so we could catch up on life together. She's also a neighbor of mine, but we haven't gotten together in months and we were overdue to connect. So she brought some wine and dark chocolate. And I cleaned out some nibbles from my fridge and made up some charcuterie. However, I knew I wanted to make a little dessert too. My Mom and step Dad are coming over for dinner in the near future, as well, and I thought I'd make some lemon bars as they are my step Dad's favorite (really almost anything lemon is)...and I knew it'd be a great dessert for that night too. So 2 birds 1 stone kind of thing. 

Here's the nibbles I made for my gf and I. I know I'm a nerd and cut out the sausage and cheese with a little flower cutter. (Yay Spring!🌸) Just some veggies and dill dip, sausages and cheese, and taco dip...

To go with the medley of different taco chip offerings. Lol

And some leftover boursin cheese I had in the fridge to go with a few types of crackers and some fruit. Not in the pics, I had also made up a batch of frozen grapes that you toss in sugar-free jello before freezing (about 20 minutes)...and it makes them taste like candy. A healthier treat! They are so good and you can use whichever flavor jello you like. I did orange flavor. It was all a very yummy "girl dinner" Lol 😋

And then I made the delicious lemon bars. 

I have had this recipe for years. I initially got it from my former MIL - and she had gotten it from a great Aunt of my former FIL's. (you with me on the family connection there? Lol). Anyway, the point is it's a tried and true old fashioned recipe and they always turn out soooo good! And I always think of them this time of year. They're so bright and Spring-like in flavor. Wonderful for an Easter dessert too. 🐰 🍋

**side note: follow my directions for how I tweak them a little so they're not too sweet. You'll see the note in the directions of the recipe.

I thought I had already shared this recipe here before...but I was looking at my recipe tabs and couldn't find it. So I thought I'd share it with you today.

I halved this recipe to make a smaller pan (8x8) and they turned out awesome. Otherwise, for this recipe make them in a 9x13 pan and lightly spray with cooking spray. 

Preheat oven to 350*

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. flour, plus 4 Tbsp later

1/2 c. powdered sugar, plus extra for on top

1 c. cold cubed butter

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 c. sugar

6 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/2 tsp baking powder

DIRECTIONS:

For crust:

 Blend together the 2 c. flour, 1/2 c. powdered sugar, and 1 c. cold butter. I blend mine with a pastry blender - but you could use your hands too. Pat down into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until starting to get a little golden. 

While that bakes, beat the eggs lightly. Add the sugar and fresh squeezed lemon juice. **(I always do a tiny bit less sugar and about 1/2 to a whole extra tbsp lemon juice, otherwise I find them too sweet and less "refreshing" But do them according to your taste, you can't go wrong.)

Blend the eggs, sugar & lemon juice well. Then gently fold in the extra 4 tbsp of flour and the 1/2 tsp of baking powder, until it's fully incorporated into the wet mixture. When the crust is done, take it out of the oven and let cool only about 3-5 minutes and pour the wet mixture over the hot crust. Gently put back in the oven. Bake another 20-25 minutes until the bars are set and a little golden brown on top. Take out and let them cool completely. Once cooled, sprinkle a lovely amount of powdered sugar all over the top. Cut into bars and serve. 

There it is in all it's gloriousness. (that's a word, right?) The crust is kind of crispy and super buttery. The middle is gooey, bright and has tons of lemon flavor. I'm puckering now looking at it! And the powdered sugar on top makes them perfection. Just don't laugh, talk, or sneeze when you're taking a bite! 😁 

I don't urge you to make these - I COMMAND you to, they're that good.

Enjoy!

I'm going to share this tomorrow with the blog Shabby Art Boutique and her Create, Bake and Grow party. You can find her here. Go check out the fun here. Have a blessed weekend ahead. 

xoxo

. 

Upcycled Key Jewelry

Hello and Happy Friday Friends! It's a beautiful day in the northwoods with the sun shining on the bay. And it looks to be a promising weekend too! Before I go run errands I wanted to share more about the key jewelry I've been working on and show you some of them. 

I found a bag of old hotel keys (remember the days when you actually had to carry around a big key??) and I cleaned them up knowing I wanted to upcycle them in some way. I started playing around with some paper crafting materials, lace, fabric etc that I had lying around. 

And using some modgepodge and some jewelry glue - I went to my creative happy place and several necklaces have now emerged. ;) I liked doing layering of different kinds of materials on top of each other.  A lace backdrop with a paper crafting word.  Bits of fabric with bird stickers in front.  Whatever seemed to work with the materials I was choosing at the time. I love that when creating something new there is no right or wrong - just doing and imagination.  I attached some different colors of cording to make them a necklace and voila.  Here are some that I'd like to show you. 

I love how this one looks like the little yellow bird and flowers on the left are in front of a forest made from lace. 

Here are more I'd like to share. These next few seem especially Spring-like and Summer-like to me. 

You can never go wrong with polka dots and flowers, right??

Little chickadee over some fabric.

Pretty as a summer wish. 

I love that not only are these keys being reused and not gone to waste in the garbage, but I think they make some really funky and unique jewelry! It is my hope and plan to have my own Etsy store up and running next month. I will keep you posted on details when things are all set up.

Stay cool Friends xoxo

I'm sharing this with 

Tricky's Five on Friday

Kerryanne's Create, Bake, Grow and Gather

Cooking and Crafting with J & J

scrapality for scraptastic saturday