Lemonies

My son LOVES these and has recently requested them so I thought I would go ahead and post the recipe while it's on my brain. Full of yummy lemon flavor and oh so moist, these lemon "brownies" are just what you need to satisfy your sweet tooth! But hard to eat just one so might want to plan to make these for a party or family get together so you don't devour them all......or not. 😜

Lemonies



Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp lemon zest
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
Lemon glaze (recipe follows)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square pan or line pan with non-stick foil.

2.) Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and zest together using a wire whisk.

3.) Add melted butter, lemon juice, eggs and vanilla and stir until completely combined.

4.) Pour batter into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

5.) Remove from oven and cool.

6.) Pour glaze over lemonies and allow to set before cutting into bars.



Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest

Sift sugar into a medium bowl. Add lemon juice and zest and stir until combined and smooth.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

I know some of you have anxiously been awaiting this recipe! The one where it's oh so good but oh so bad to eat! It's yummo with whipping cream (if you wanna go all out and indulge to the extreme) or is just as heavenly plain with a glass of milk. Either way, you're probably gonna regret taking just one bite when you try this doozy because that one bite won't be enough and you're gonna wish you'd never read this blog post ;).

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Cookie Dough:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Set aside an additional 1 cup mini chocolate chips to fold into batter with cookie dough balls

Crust:

4 tbsp butter, melted

2.5 cups graham cracker crumbs

Filling: 

4 (8oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

2. For the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugars until smooth. Add the milk, vanilla and blend. Mix in the flour, salt and chocolate chips. The dough will be wet. Gently roll the dough into small teaspoon sized balls and place on wax paper or nonstick baking pan and put in freezer to harden while fixing crust and filling. 

3. For the crust: Lightly grease the sides and bottom of a 10 inch spring-form pan. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs. Press into the bottom and about halfway up the sides of the spring-form pan. 

4. For the filling: Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and flour just until smooth. Add in the vanilla and sour cream and mix just until blended. Be careful not to over mix. Too much air in batter will cause cracks during baking in the oven. 

5. Pour half the batter into the prepared crust. Gently stir in the cookie dough balls and remaining chocolate chips into the remaining batter. Pour into pan and spread evenly, making sure to disperse cookie dough balls throughout every part of the batter. 

6. Bake the cheesecake for one hour. Turn off oven, prop open door (make sure no kids are around) and leave in oven for 30 minutes. Take out of oven and let cool completely on wire rack. Refrigerate for 8-12 hrs (I let mine sit overnight). Garnish with whipped cream and mini chocolate chips and enjoy!

Fudgy Cocoa Brownies

Haven't really cooked much this week. Been cleaning out the freezer of leftovers.....again. Seems to be the case just about every other week. Get groceries, cook big meals, freeze leftovers, re-heat and eat leftovers the following week. Hey--it saves on the grocery bill! Plus, who doesn't like making one meal and getting one or two more out of it? So here's sweet treat for now. Not healthy at all but I had a mad hankering for them and they definitely satisfied my sweet tooth!

Fudgy Cocoa Brownies

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tbsp cooking oil (coconut oil works great too)
1&1/8 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
dash salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Lightly grease an 8x8 inch square baking pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper; set aside. 

3. Combine hot, melted butter, oil and sugar together in a medium bowl. Whisk well for about a minute. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until lighter in color (another minute).

4. Sift in flour, cocoa and dash salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until JUST combined (do NOT over beat as doing so will affect the texture of your brownies).

5. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top out evenly. *I love to add extra chocolate chips on top....IF I can get it into the pan before my hubby licks the whole bowl of batter....

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until center of brownies in the pan no longer jiggles.

7. Remove and allow to cool to room temperature before cutting into squares.