Searching for the Perfect Lemon Square

About a month ago, I decided to make lemon squares.

I used almond meal (almond flour) for the crust. 
I wanted the lemon part to be tangy, not too sweet.
I wanted them totally delicious.
I used fresh lemons.

What I wound up with was very tasty.
We ate them all up.
But the crust wasn't as solid as I would have liked.

Yesterday, I re-worked the recipe.
I came up with this. 

I couldn't get the photo quite right,
but the flavor and texture was just what I was looking for.
Yeah, this was just about perfect.

Lemon heaven.....

Lemon Squares                                              

(Makes 16)

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease an 8” square glass pan.

In a bowl, stir together:

¾ cup almond meal,
¾ cup GF flour
   (“Ancient Grains” by King Arthur is nice),
¾ tsp xanthan gum, and
¾ cup sugar. 

Then cut in

1 stick of softened butter (1/2 cup),
Until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

Press this mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake for ~20 minutes, until golden but not browned.  It may bubble up and look a bit funky.  When you take it out of the oven, let it cool a bit and settle down. 

While the crust is baking, clean up your bowl and beaters. 

Juice up 4 large lemons to get

¾  cup of lemon juice.

Zest some of the lemon peel to get about

2 Tbs of zest.

When you remove the crust from the oven, increase the temperature to 350.

Into your clean bowl, crack open

4 eggs.  Whip these up together to get them nice and frothy. 

Combine in a small bowl: 

1 ¼ cups sugar, and
¼ cup rice flour.

Mix this into your eggs, being careful to not have lumps. 

Use a hand mixer or a hand blender. 

Add in your juice and zest.

Gently pour your lemon mixture over the somewhat cooled crust.

Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until set.

Cool and refrigerate before cutting into 16 squares.

Dust with powdered sugar.  

Brownies to Go!

Wow!  I just took an old recipe that I used to use and converted it to some GF delights.  It was very easy and delicious.  It made what my friends and I called "Blondies", and we flavored them with almond extract.  They were a staple for a little while. 

I ran across that old recipe and was also perusing a GF regular brownie recipe.  Lo and behold, the proportions were very similar.  I did an experiment with "my own thing," making blondies and brownies side-by-side.  Although the blondies seem a bit more crumbly than the brownies, they both sliced nicely.  Success!! 

I wrapped them up individually to send to my gluten free son in Albuquerque.

Gluten Free Brownies -  AWESOME – with changes to make almond “blondies”, too

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease an 8 or 9” square glass pan.

Take ½ cup softened butter (one stick)

and cream it in a mixing bowl with

1 cup sugar.

Beat in two eggs,

one at a time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For brownies:                                                                   For almond “blondies”:

Add

1 tsp vanilla extract,                                                      Add  1 tsp. almond extract           

2/3 cup GF flour blend,                                                         1 cup GF flour blend,

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder,

1 tsp xanthan gum, and                                                        1 tsp xanthan gum, and

1/8 tsp salt.                                                                            1/8 tsp salt.

Stir in                                                                                      

6 oz. chocolate chips.                                                    No chocolate chips.

Pour into pan, and                                                            Pour into pan, and

smooth with wet fingers.                                                   smooth with wet fingers, then 

             sprinkle top with

               1-2 Tbs sugar and

~ ¼ cup of slivered almonds.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bake 28-30 minutes.

Cool in pan.

Cut into 16 squares.

     

Update:  February 2016 - These are still awesome!  I made them for a baby shower and my GF friends loved them.  I made enough to send the "blondies" to a friend who can't have chocolate, and they were a hit! 

Irish Soda Bread

Signs of Spring are in my yard!

We had friends over last night for a St. Patrick's Day dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage (see this page). 

One of our friends cannot consume gluten, but that's easy in my house! 

For dessert, I made these delicious Almond Cookies (see this page).  I doubled the recipe here so that I could mail some to our son in ABQ, but my little food processor couldn't handle it.  Note to self:  Use a regular stand mixer for doubling the cookie recipe!

I haven't really done a lot of gluten free bread baking, so I wasn't too sure about making my own GF Irish Soda Bread.  (I'm pretty sure that other years I have purchased it from my local GF bakery, "Dee's One Smart Cookie.")  But this year I tried making it myself, and darn, it was great!

First, I pre-heated the oven to 375.

I took out my 8" cast iron skillet and sprayed it with cooking spray.

I took
1/2 cup of raisins
and poured hot (boiling) water over it, letting it sit for 5-10 minutes or so, then draining them.  This plumped up the raisins.  I was hoping this would help to make a nice, moist loaf.  Considering the good results I had, I won't skip this step next time!

In the stand mixer, I put in the following ingredients, in this order, while the mixer churned at its lowest level:

2 cups of Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour,
3 Tbs sugar,
1 tsp baking soda,
1 tsp baking powder,
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum,
4 Tbs SACO Cultured Buttermilk Blend
(it's a powered buttermilk that you can find in the baking aisle),
1 tsp caraway seeds, and
1 tsp salt.

I added -
4 Tbs softened butter, and let it run until it's blended with the flour mixture, into little pieces.

Then I tossed in -
1 egg,
1 cup water, and
the soaked raisins.

I mixed it up until blended, then plopped the mixture into the prepared skillet. 
I smoothed the top with wet fingers, then
cut an "X" into the top, as can be seen above.

I baked this for 45 minutes, turning the oven down to 350 after about 25 minutes. 
When I took it out and tested it, I found that an instant-read thermometer clocked it at 190.
The color was pretty dark,
but the loaf had that nice hollow "thump" sound when I rapped on the bottom.
I let it cool on a wire rack.

When I cut it just before dinner, I was delighted to see it looking like this:

My guest loved it so much that I sent a few slices home with her. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day,
and
Happy Spring!

Show your love

Hubby was away for a little business trip.  You'd think he was doing the right thing, arranging his flights to take a southern route from the west coast back to New England.  However, the weather in Charlotte, NC, turned out to be worse than here.  His plane needed de-icing TWICE!

While he was gone, I sent him little texts and emails. 

It's nice to have him home again.

Today on Facebook, I was pleased to find that my daughter has been collecting all the things I have been sending her.  She lives far away, and I don't trust the delivery of anything of value, so I send cards and whatever might fit inside an envelope.  Apparently she has been creating a collage of sorts:

 

When you get down to it, it's amazing how much CAN fit in an envelope!

 

 



For my son, I like to send him packages of things he can't easily find in a southwestern U.S. college dining hall.  Which leaves just about everything, since he must keep gluten free. 

This week, I found the most amazing recipes for gluten free versions of Girl Scout Cookies here.

I immediately noticed the Tagalongs by Betsy, since I had all the ingredients right at home for that one.  This morning I got to work as hubby was encased in a metal flying machine on a messy runway.  There are many steps, and I didn't finish until mid-afternoon (he was safely home by then), but the results are awesome!

 

 

Changes I made:  I didn't add milk to the cookie mixture, and I didn't refrigerate this dough.  I just divided the dough into 36 pieces and smooshed them into a nice shape with wet fingers onto parchment paper.  (I'm amazed at the wonders of parchment paper and wet fingers with gluten free baking!)

Being a pharmacist's wife, I used the end of a pestle (i.e., mortar and pestle) to make indentations in the center of each cookie as it came out of the oven.

Please note:  A sandwich baggie is NOT strong enough to pipe the peanut butter filling onto the cookies.  (Ask how I know....)

I melted chocolate chips for the topping in a metal bowl set into a saucepan of water.  I frosted each cookie with a spatula, instead of dipping.  The chocolate didn't seem thin enough for dipping!

Move over, Girl Scouts!!

I'm sending most of these to my son, but we need some here, too!!



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