Paleo Lemon Bars

Lemon bars are one of my favorite treats. My sister is allergic to chocolate, so when I was growing up we didn't make brownies, we made lemon bars. To me they taste like sunshine. Because of the
almond flour crust, these are actually quite filling, and I may have eaten these for breakfast once or twice 😉

Preheat oven to 350º. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper letting the paper hang over the sides for easy removal.

Make the crust by mixing 1 1/2 cup almond flour, 3 Tbsp melted coconut oil, 2 tbsp maple syrup, and a pinch of salt until a dough forms. Press dough into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

While crust bakes, make the filling by beating together 4 large eggs with a hand or stand mixer until light and frothy (about 4 mintues). Slowly add 1/2 cup melted and slightly cooled coconut oil and 1/3 cup honey. Gently fold in by hand 1/2 cup lemon juice, grated zest of 3 lemons OR 20 drops lemon oil.

When the crust is finished, remove from oven and pour the filling mixture onto the hot crust. Bake for an additional 15 to 25 minutes or until the edges are set and the center is barely jiggly. Let cool completely in the pan and refrigerate.

Super Easy and Delicious Banana Dream Pie

I am usually a big fan of making everything from scratch, but this banana cream pie always gets rave reviews and it is seriously one of the easiest thing to make. To make it even easier, use prepared whipped topping to finish.

Ingredients:

• Nilla Wafer Crust (either homemade or store bought)
• 3 envelopes DREAM WHIP whipped topping mixes
• 3-1/4 cups cold milk, divided
• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla, divided
• 2 pkgs (4-servings each) JELL-O instant pudding, banana flavored
• 1-2 very ripe bananas

Directions:

1. Beat 2 whipped topping mixes, 1 cup of milk and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed 6 minutes or until topping thickens and forms peaks.
2. Add 1-3/4 cups mik and pudding mixes; beat on low speed. Beat on high speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. 
3. Slice ripe banana and arrange the slices to cover the bottom of the nilla wafer crust. Spoon pie filling into crust.
4. Mix remaining whipped topping mix, 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until blended.
5. Beat on high speed for 4 minutes or until topping thickens and forms peaks.
6. Top pie with the prepared dream whip.
7. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Peach Blackberry Cobbler

I made this scrumptios treat for Father's Day because my local Sunflower Market had both peaches and blackberries at crazy good prices. I ended up only making a half recipe because it serves a lot! You can use canned peaches if fresh are not available or too expensive. It was very good and I will absolutly make this again in the fall when I can get some killer peaches. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

12 medium peaches, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh blackberries

TOPPING:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup cold butter, cubed
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the peaches, flour, honey, lemon juice and salt; let stand for 15 minutes. Fold in blackberries. Transfer to a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray.

For topping, in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in butter until crumbly. Make a well in the center; pour in buttermilk. Stir just until a soft dough forms. Drop by tablespoonfuls over fruit mixture; sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake at 400° for 40-45 minutes or until filling is bubbly and a toothpick inserted in topping comes out clean. Serve warm. Yield: 12 servings.

Classic Cheesecake with Berry Topping

I LOVE cheesecake. This is my version of baked cheesecake. I say it is my version because I make Junior's cheesecake filling with a graham cracker crust. The topping is a slight variation from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I mix and matched recipes to find what works for me. Enjoy!

Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Graham Cracker Crust Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the crumbs and sugar; add butter and blend well. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9-in. pie plate.
2. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before filling, or bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack before filling.

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Filling

(4) 8 ounce packages cream cheese (the regular variety, not light Neufchatel cream cheese) at room temperature 1 2/3 cups sugar 

1/4 cup corn starch 

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 

2 extra large eggs 

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions for the Cheesecake Filling

While the crust cools, make the cream cheese filling: Place an 8 ounce package of the cream cheese, 1/3 cup of the sugar, and the cornstarch in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low until creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the remaining 3 packages of cream cheese.

Increase the mixer speed to high and beat in the remaining 1 1/3 cups of sugar, then beat in the vanilla. Blend in the eggs, one at a time, beating the batter well after adding each one. Blend in the heavy cream. At this point, mix the filling only until completely blended (just like they do at Junior's). Be careful not to overmix the batter.

Gently spoon the cheese filling on top of the baked sponge cake layer. Place the springfoam pan in a large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Bake the cheescake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the center barely jiggles when you shake the pan, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool the cake on a wire rack for 1 hour. Then cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until it's completely cold, at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove the sides of the springfoam pan. Slide the cake off of the bottom of the pan onto a serving plate. Or if you wish, simply leave the cake on the removable bottom of the pan and place it on a serving plate. If any cake is left over, cover it with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

For the topping:

• 1 cup red jelly (not jam), such as currant, raspberry, or strawberry
• 3 half-pints fresh raspberries, or a combination of berries 

To make the topping, melt the jelly in a small pan over low heat. In a bowl, toss the raspberries and the warm jelly gently until well mixed. Arrange the berries on top of the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Swedish Apple Pie

My mom brought me a bunch of apples from her tree last week so I needed to come up with creative and healthy ways to use them. I came across this recipe in a cooking magazine and loved it! This recipe is a mix between cake and a crustless pie. The ingredients come together so quickly I couldn't believe it. This is also a great substitute for coffee cake. The best part about it is the 175 calories per slice, most apples pies are between 400-600. I made it even healthier by substituting 1/3 cup agave for the 1/2 cup sugar. If you don't like nuts you can omit them for a cakier pie. I did a half and half since my husband likes nuts and I don't. He said the nuts made it for him, but I liked it without. Serve with vanilla ice cream if you want.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 medium apples, chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted
• Confectioners' sugar, optional

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a small bowl, whisk egg and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples and walnuts.
• Transfer to a 9-in. pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar if desired. Serve warm. Yield: 8 servings.

Pear (or Peach) Tart!

I got this recipe out of a baking cookbook my mother gave me ages ago. Don't tell her, but I never cook anything out of it. Oh it is GORGEOUS. There are pictures of all the food and lots of things sound really delicious, but it calls for a lot of gourmet ingredients that I don't have on hand and never think to buy. Who has ever even heard of Muscovado or superfine sugar anyway? Anyhow I had some fresh pears that I had been canning but had a few leftover that were almost on their way to the compost pile. So I pulled out the book to see what I could find.

And I found these.

And even though they called for Ready Made Pastry Puffs, I decided it was worth the trip to the grocery store just to find them.

Because they looked really good...

I did try to find a recipe to make my own Pastry Puffs, but apparently they take 2 or 3 days to make and I'm not that patient. So I went out and bought them. I found them in the freezer section. I think they were Pepperidge Farm.

As you can see from the pictures there are a few ways you can do them. The picture with the whole half pear is how the recipe called for them to be made. They were good. But they were a little too much fruit in my opinion. And that way (with the rounds) wasted a lot of the pastry puff. I did ball up the leftovers and reroll them out, but they weren't near as flaky when I did that. So the second time around I did them square (wasting NONE of the yummy pastry puffiness!) and used less fruit. I thought these were absolutely divine! Hope you find them as delectable as I (and everyone else who tried them ;) did!

Pear tart made with a whole half fruit on a round pastry.

Peach and Pear tarts made with 1/4 of a whole fruit on square pastries.

Pear (or Peach) Tarts

1 sheet Frozen Puff Pastry

1/2 C Butter

1/2 C Brown Sugar

1/2 - 1 tsp Cinnamon (depending on your taste)

2 - 6 whole fresh Pears and/or Peaches, depending on how you do the tart...

(*You could probably use canned if you really want to, but I can promise they wouldn't be NEARLY as yummy!)

OK, so to start you'll have to thaw the frozen puff pastries for about 40 minutes, or until they are workable. Then on a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry. Cut out 3-4 inch round circles OR cut in desired size squares (I think I did 16 per pastry sheet). Place the circles on a large baking sheet and prick each several times with a fork. Chill for 30 minutes (or just until you have the fruit prepared is fine!)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cream together the butter, brown sugar and add cinnamon. Set aside.

Prepare the fruit. If using pears peel them with a vegetable peeler. Slice them in half and use a melon baller or cookie scoop to scoop out the seeds. Cut out the rest of the stem with a knife. If you are doing a lot you will want to 1) do this assembly style (i.e. peel 3-4 at a time, then cut them all in half, then take out all the center, etc) AND 2) put them in cold water and/or sprinkle them with "Fruit Fresh" to keep them from browning. (You can find Fruit Fresh in the canning section. Now is the perfect time to get it. It is packaged in what looks like a plastic spice container. The brand I've seen has a lime green lid).

If using peaches you'll want to boil some water in a medium stock pot. Drop the peaches in for about 30 seconds. Place them directly in ice water. The skins should then just slip off. Cut them in half and remove the seed. Again if you are doing a lot, put the in water and/or use the fruit fresh to keep them from browning.

Take out the pastry puffs and spread a little of the the butter-sugar mixture over each.

If you want to use a whole half of the fruit as in the first picture....Slice them fruit halves lengthways - but keeping them intact at the tip. Fan out the slices slightly. (I had a really hard time keeping them in tact, it would take some practice, but mine still looked really good, so it probably doesn't really matter...ha ha!) Place the fruit half on in the center of the pastry puff.

OR

Slice the fruit thinly. Place about 1/4 of the fruit, fanned out on the pastry puff.

Make small flutes around the edge of the pastry circles/squares or simply fold over the corners. You could even fold almost over all of the fruit if you wanted. Place the rest of the butter sugar mixture in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, enough time to melt it. Brush each tart with the melted butter mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is well risen and golden. Serve warm with a little cream, ice cream or by themselves. They are delicious any way you slice it!

Apricot Bread

With the abundance of apricots this time of year (the picture is of the apricots on my own tree), I have been on a quest to find something yummy to make with some of them. I found this recipe for apricot bread, and it turned out pretty well. With fresh fruit and some whole wheat flour, it's somewhat healthier than other treats! I would make a couple of adjustments the next time, which will be mentioned in the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 c. all purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

1/8 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

2 c. very ripe, mashed apricots (the recipe said that peaches could also be used)

1 egg

2 T. melted butter

Directions:

1. Combine flours, sugars, salt and baking soda in a bowl.

2. In a second bowl, combine the apricots, egg and butter.

3. Stir in flour mixture.

4. Grease (*I sprayed with non-stick cooking spray) a 9 x 5 loaf pan and pour the mixture in. (*It was a lot of batter for the one loaf pan. In the future, I would make one large loaf and one small loaf, or even muffins, instead of the one large loaf pan.)

5. Let it stand for 20 minutes while preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

6. Bake at 350 degree for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool bread in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack.

I served the sliced bread with Einstein's peach/mango schmear. Mmmm! Tasty!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins

Blueberries were on sale at my grocery store this week so I made these little pieces of heaven this morning. The recipe actually makes a little more then 12 muffins, so I typically make minis with the remaining batter. When making minis, bake 12-15 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
  
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, cut into cubes
• 3 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine (melted)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
  

Directions

1. 
   

   1

   Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. 
   

   2

   Toss blueberries with about 2 tablespoons flour and set aside.
3. 
   

   3

   Combine remaining flour with the other dry ingredients and set aside.
4. 
   

   4

   In a large mixer bowl, cream the cream cheese, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth.
5. 
   

   5

   Add eggs, then flour mixture, butter and milk and mix until just moistened.
6. 
   

   6

   Fold in the blueberries.
7. 
   

   7

   Fill paper-lined muffin pans 2/3 full.
8. 
   

   8

   Bake for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
9. 
   

   9

   Remove from pan immediately.

Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

I just made this for a church thing and it was a hit. Super easy and delicious. I use agave instead of sugar to make it a little healthier.

Ingredients:

   2 cups vanilla yogurt

   ½ cup whole milk

   ¼-½ cup sugar, to taste

   1 package frozen raspberries,

      thawed or 2 cups fresh raspberries

Directions:

   1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; stir until sugar dissolves.

   2. Place raspberries in a blender; process until smooth. Strain puree through a fine sieve over a bowl. Discard seeds. Add puree to yogurt mixture.

   3. Pour raspberry mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Spoon into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze 1 hour or until firm. Garnish with fresh raspberries, if desired. Yield: 8 servings (½ cup each) 

Russian Cream

My mother-in-law recently took this to a church "Dessert-Off" and won "Best Kitchen Award." She came in second overall and was only beat out by a banana, bread pudding, very complicated thing brought by a professional chef. (It was more like a tie but the judges couldn't decide and defaulted to the more difficult thing). She was kind enough to share her recipe with the judges and competitor (isn't she sweet), they were appalled by the simplicity of it. The competitor thought that he was missing part of it. There is nothing better then something that is quick, easy and absolutely blows people out of the water. I bring this dessert to dinner parties regularly because it is so easy and people think it took you all day.

In a saucepan combine:
   2 pkgs Knox gelatin
   1 cup water
   1 cup sugar
Stir, let sit 5 minutes. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
Stir in and mix with a wire whisk:
   3 cups sour cream (full fat only)
   2 cups whipping cream
Pour mixture into Bundt pan and refrigerate. Allow to set, remove from pan, and top with fruit.

A little tip: If the set cream doesn't release easily from the pan, dip the pan in warm water being careful not to get water on the cream. You can also run the pan under warm water but that technique is much more tricky. Also don't leave the pan in the warm water for too long or it will start to melt and won't look as pretty.