Fresh lemons and strawberries fill birthday desserts
June and July seem to be birthday season in my family. As I’ve
written before, the month of July includes my mom’s, my dad’s, my
sister’s and my own birthday. There is also a smattering of
birthdays of aunts, uncles, cousins and that doesn’t include all my
friends who also celebrate in the mid-summer month.
Fresh lemons and strawberries fill birthday desserts
June and July seem to be birthday season in my family. As I’ve written before, the month of July includes my mom’s, my dad’s, my sister’s and my own birthday. There is also a smattering of birthdays of aunts, uncles, cousins and that doesn’t include all my friends who also celebrate in the mid-summer month.
The upside of all the celebrations is that it allows a chance to try out some recipes for sweets without getting stuck with a whole cake or batch of lemon bars at my house. A couple weeks ago, my mom and I baked a strawberry cake to bring to a family’s house for my uncle’s 60th birthday. My mom had gotten an e-mail from Kraft.com and the cake looked scrumptious. We did make one mistake of trying to change up the frosting by using cream cheese frosting mixed with fresh fruit instead of the cool whip. Our version of the cake was tasty, but didn’t look quite so nice since the frosting kind of dripped off the sides. It was a reminder of why I don’t bake a lot.
But I decided to forge on and try out another recipe for my aunt’s birthday last Friday. I’d been wanting to make lemon bars and I had a bunch of Meyer lemons from the farmers market, which seemed perfect for the job. Meyer lemons are sweeter and juicier than other varieties. Lemon bars are one of my favorite treats, but I rarely make them at home because the recipe is a little complicated since it requires making and baking a crust, then making the filling and baking some more. I always find it is a delicate balance to get the filling just right without over or under cooking the crust.
After running some errands on Friday afternoon, I thought I had plenty of time to make the lemon bars before heading to my aunt’s for dinner. Unfortunately, this was another case where I failed to read the entire recipe before making it. I didn’t realize the recipe required time for the crust to chill before baking and to cool after baking. With the chill and cool time factored, in the recipe took nearly an hour and a half from start to finish. By the time they came out of the oven, I had to leave for the dinner and they were too hot to take along. Instead of sharing them, I had my fill of lemon bars over the weekend and then froze the remainder of the batch.
For my mom’s birthday midweek, I opted for a simpler solution for dessert – an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins, which offered no chance to take misread recipes or mess up frosting.
Lemon Bars
Recipe courtesy of Barefoot Contessa
For the crust:
1/2 lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c, granulated sugar
2 c, flour
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
For the filling:
6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
3 c. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)
1 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 c. flour
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.
Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.
For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.
Cut into triangles and dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Strawberry cake
Recipe courtesy of Kraft.com
1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix
1 pkg. (3 oz.) Jell-p Strawberry Flavor Gelatin
4 eggs
1 c. oil
1/4 c. water
1 c. mashed fresh strawberries, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
2 c. thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping
Heat oven to 350°F.
Combine cake mix and dry gelatin mix in large bowl. Add eggs, oil, water and 3/4 cup strawberries; beat with mixer until well blended. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round pans.
Bake 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely. Meanwhile, drain remaining strawberries.
Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in sugar. Add drained berries; mix well. Whisk in Cool Whip. Stack cake layers on plate, spreading 1 c. Cool Whip mixture between layers. Frost top and side with remaining Cool Whip mixture. Keep refrigerated.
