toasted marshmallow and coconut lemon bars

Warning: These toasted marshmallow and coconut lemon bars are super sweet, super sticky, and super yummy. And they are super easy to bake up. In fact, I baked these before class one morning (which is surprising considering it’s pretty hard to get me to do anything beyond what is necessary in the morning) and then proceeded to daydream about them all day until I finally ate one after classes. And they definitely lived up to my expectations.

It has been a while since my last post. Two weeks. Needless to say, I have been swamped.

Can they just give me my degree already? I am so over school right now. Like, seriously over it. I spent between 15 and 20 hours last week working on a lab report. For a one credit hour course. I have a class that has exams pretty much every Friday (10 for the semester). And they are not easy multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank exams. They’re take-two-hours-and-hope-and-pray-you-gave-the-right-answer kind of exams. Oh yeah, and they are only two questions long. Two hours? For two questions?

Unfortunately, I could probably keep complaining for a long time about school right now. And quite honestly, I am tempted to do it. But, I do not want to bore you all to death. Or make you annoyed with my whiny-ness. Good thing I have a lot of Easter candy in my living room so I have something to stress-eat. Maybe I should bake these lemon bars again.

Not a bad idea…

Makes one 8×8” pan

Ingredients:
1 19-oz. box lemon bar mix*
3 eggs
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 cup sweetened coconut
½ 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease an 8x8x2” pan. Press crust (in a bag in the lemon bar box) into the bottom of pan. Bake for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk 1/3 cup water and 3 eggs together until homogeneous. Stir in lemon filling mix until smooth. Pour over hot, baked crust. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven. Sprinkle with marshmallows and coconut. Drizzle over sweetened condensed milk. Bake for an additional 14-18 minutes, until lightly golden on top. If the top starts to get too brown, cover with foil to prevent burning. Remove to cool. Chill in refrigerator for a couple hours to slice easier.

*Baking instructions follow Krusteaz lemon bars mix. If using a different brand, eggs, water, and baking time may need to be adjusted.

Source: Adapted from Inside BruCrew Life

 

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lemon poppy seed ginger muffins

I love breakfast food. (Muffins do count as breakfast food, right?) Maybe it is the carb-overload that happens in a lot of breakfasts or the combination of sweet and savory foods, but I could eat breakfast for every meal of the day. Seriously.

There’s something refreshing about lemon and ginger together. And as a breakfast food? With poppy seeds? Gotta love it.

I have this problem of not eating breakfast on the weekends until about 11. Which I don’t qualify as breakfast any more. It’s either that I start doing homework really early and just buckle down into it to get done as soon as possible or I go to the grocery store.

As many of you probably know, grocery store on an empty stomach never is a good idea. I should probably note the overflow of food in my cabinets at this point. Oops. But something weird happens when I’m hungry and go to look for something to eat. It’s like 90% of my food vanishes and I feel like I have limited options. There must be some science behind that because it just doesn’t make any sense to me.

Makes 16 Muffins

Ingredients:
1 large lemon
About 3 inches ginger root, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
½ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
juice from 1 large lemon (about 3 tablespoons)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 12-cavity muffin tin with 16 liners, if desired, or grease.

Peel off yellow part of lemon (try not to get any white) using a vegetable peeler and chop up a bit. Squeeze lemon juice into a food processor or blender. Add lemon zest ginger, and ¼ cup sugar. Pulse food processor until a fine paste is formed.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and remaining ¾ cup of sugar. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and lemon-ginger paste. Beat in one-third of the flour mixture until just combined. Mix in half of the yogurt. Mix in one-third of the flour mixture until just combined. Mix in the remaining yogurt. Mix in the rest of the flour mixture. Mix in the sour cream. Stir in the poppy seeds.

Evenly distribute the batter among the cups. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden and a toothpick comes out with only moist crumbs. Cool on a wire rack.

For the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice. Spoon over the top of each muffin while still warmed. 

Source: Adapted from Simply Recipes

lemon crinkle cookies (aka lemon cool-whip cookies)

Hands down, lemon crinkle cookies my all-time favorite cookies. And if I ever tell you otherwise, do not believe me. I probably just forgot about these. In three words, these cookies are gooey, lemony (I would be worried if you didn’t guess that one from the title), and incredibly easy (does that count as one word?). Only five ingredients! I think that’s pretty awesome for any cookie.

I used to beg my mom for these cookies all. the. time. Truth is, I still do. I was craving them during most of my stay in Spain. But, I never baked these with her or even glanced at the recipe until a few days before this past Christmas. And I was pretty shocked. You would never know from the taste of these cookies that they only require five ingredients, much less a box of cake mix.

So, consider these a new staple in my kitchen, even though Momma always makes them best.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 8-oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 18.25-oz box lemon cake mix
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with silicon baking mats or parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat thawed whipped topping and eggs. Stir in vanilla. Mix in cake mix until just combined. Place powdered sugar in a bowl. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar and roll around until completely coated. Place on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool on baking sheets for about 2 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.