#72) Lovely Lemon Squares

Living alone has its pros and cons, but the severe lack of taste-testers has to be my biggest con.... However, my fiance was here for the weekend and we had some friends over for dinner - the perfect opportunity to try out a brand new recipe! I had never made lemon squares before and was really excited to try and recreate that creamy sweet and tart lemony filling my mom makes from that ever popular blue Shirff box (oh, you know the one!). It was pretty touch and go for a while - is the bottom supposed to be this crumbly? is it supposed to smell like egg? But in the end, once they had cooled, they were perfect! Just as good, or better, than that popular blue box HaHa!

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp icing sugar

Steps

-Preheat oven to 325ºF.

-Beat together butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy.

-Add flour in 2 additions.

-Press into 13X9 pan (I used a glass to pat it in evenly).

-Bake for 35 minutes, until slightly golden. Let cool.

-Beat eggs with sugar until thick. Add lemon rind, juice, flour, and baking powder.

-Pour over baked bottom.

-Bake for 25-30 minutes, just until the centre is set. (The top will have a bubbly white crust, don't worry!)

-Let cool and slice. Dust with icing sugar.

#71) Greek Shortbread

This lovely looking sweet treat also played a part in my New Year's cookie buffet, too. Although everybody else seemed to favour the Dirty Bottoms, I actually prefer these guys. I am a shortbread lover and I like pretty much all varieties, but this one was really great because it had a great texture and a crumb that melted the second it hit your tongue, and the sweetness from the icing sugar is, well, the "icing on the cake!"

Give 'em a go and let me know what you think :)

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 tsp vanilla (I used homemade vanilla that was given to me as a Christmas gift and it was awesome! Thanks Laura :))
2 3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.

-Beat together butter and icing sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla.

-Sift in flour and baking powder. Beat until combined then knead with hands until smooth.

-Roll into small balls (about 2 dozen) and place on cookie sheets. Flatten with hand.

-Bake for 15 minutes, or until pale golden brown.

-Meanwhile, sift icing sugar onto falt plate. Place hot cookies in icing sugar. Let sit for 3 minutes and then sift more icing sugar over top.

-Let cool completely.

#70) Dirty Bottoms

Have you ever had a "to-do" list so long you never seem to finish it? It seems that since Christmas my list has multiplied every single day, morphing into this new creature I don't even recognize... lesson plans, chores, cooking, errands, gym, evening classes.... it all adds up.

But, this is me taking over and deciding that cookies come first on my list all the time :)

These cookies are a melt-in-your-mouth shortbread dipped in creamy milk chocolate. They were made as part of a cookie buffet for a New Year's Eve party, but I was kind of stuck on a name for them so I asked a group of friends to name them... "Dirty Bottoms" was the very first suggestion, and no matter how cute or creative the following names were, we all decided that these cookies will be forever known as Dirty Bottoms! I hope you enjoy this sweet treat as much as we did.

Ingredients

7 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Steps

-Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

-Beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

-Add flour and baking powder. Stir until combined.

-Roll dough into small balls (yields 1 dozen). Place balls on cookie sheet.

-Press down balls (I used a tip from my cookie press, but a fork will work).

-Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until a pale golden colour. (Watch closely as they will burn easily).

-Let cool completely.

-Melt chocolate in double boiler. Dip bottom of cookies in chocolate. Let excess drip off.

-Let cool top-side down until chocolate has hardened. (Keep refrigerated so chocolate does not melt).

*Makes 1 dozen cookies.

#51) Bakeapple Blossoms

I know, I've been away a while, eh? Well, with finishing up my internship and last weekend's wedding show get-away, I haven't spent that much time in the kitchen. But with yesterday being the last day of my internship I thought maybe I should bring in some treats as a thank you to the staff. I didn't want to make anything too fancy because I didn't have a lot of time, so I decided to make some scratch shortbread. But that wasn't enough - they needed something more. So I took out a bag of bakeapples given to me by a good friend and made some of my no-fail berry cake filling, sieved out the seeds, and poured in into indentations in the shortbread. The result was exactly what I was going for - a simple treat with a interesting twist. They were huge hit and will stay in my back pocket now as a go-to recipe :) The cake filling can be replaced with any fruity preserve you like, but if you have access to bakeapples I would give 'em a try!!!

Bakeapple Cake Filling

Ingredients

1 cup bakeapples
1/4 cup water
7 tbsp sugar (adjust according to the tartness of your berries)
2 tsp corn starch

Steps

-Boil berries with 3/4 of the water. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.
-Push the cooked berries through a fine sieve, discarding the seeds.
-Whisk corn starch into remaining water. Add cornstarch mixture and sugar to berries.
-Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Let cool completely.

Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients

1 1/8 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour

Steps

- Combine butter, sugar and extract in mixer bowl and beat until creamy.
- Add the flour, scraping often until well mixed.
- Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Work together with hands upon removing from refrigerator.
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place them on silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Use a tsp measure to make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
- Fill the indentation with a small dollop of your fruit filling.
- Bake for 14 - 18 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.
- Place cookies in wire rack and cool completely.