from Tracey G.

Raspberry-Lemonade Squares

I am a lover of all things lemon, and, all things raspberry! Even though the seeds annoy me, I don’t care because I love raspberries no matter what, I just deal. This recipe is a combination of the two in a bar/square form, Raspberry-Lemonade Squares. These are heavenly and so wonderfully summery, but the beauty is you use frozen raspberries so you can enjoy this any time of year. A little bit of summer in the dead of winter always sounds good to me!

These are made just like a lemon bar, only with added raspberry puree. The crust is a shortbread-style crust, and then there’s this interesting topping – a white chocolate mixture. Honestly, these would be good without it and maybe just some whipped cream or even just a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

I’m not sure if it’s because I goofed and thought I had white chocolate chips and didn’t, so I used some Wilton Candy Melts in their place, but the topping made for some ugly presentation! It cracked and smooshed the bars when I tried to cut them up. I was hard pressed to get any fairly decent looking ones out of it for their photo! I wish now I hadn’t cleaned up my mess (the one time I’m efficient, sort of) because I should have also taken a photo of the disasters! It definitely hardened like a candy shell, I was hoping it might stay sort-of soft as it had an addition of corn syrup in combination with the white chocolate and cream. There really must be a reason there is no photo of them at the King Arthur Flour website!

This is another recipe that uses the Instant ClearJel, but they also state you can use corn starch as well! I used the ClearJel because I have it on hand.

The ingredients are simple:

CRUST

• King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• glazing sugar or confectioners’ sugar
• salt
• lemon zest
• soft butter
• vanilla extract

FILLING

• eggs
• lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• lemon zest
• frozen raspberries, thawed, pureed and strained to make about 3/4 to 1 cup seedless puree
• sugar
• salt
• Instant ClearJel or cornstarch

TOPPING

• white chocolate chips or chunks
• cream
• corn syrup

You make the crust, then while that’s baking make the filling. And here I do recommend making the puree ahead of time, it would just be easier in the long run I think. It wasn’t hard, but slowed me down. I just thawed my raspberries in a bowl in the microwave, mashed them up a bit, then pushed them through a fine mesh sieve. Was really simple, but as I said – it slowed me down in making my filling.

When the crust is done, you pour on the filling and pop back into the oven. Once it’s baked until it’s set, you let it cool before you top it with the white chocolate/cream/corn syrup mixture. To make the topping, I melted my white melts in the microwave then added the other two ingredients, and mixed well.

I also made the mistake of having my pan of squares in the refrigerator before I topped it – as you can imagine, the white chocolate topping hardened almost on contact, so my spreading efforts were foiled somewhat. And again, I think they’d be wonderful cut in squares, then topped with whipped cream or whipped topping right before serving. Easy peasy!

Anyway, no one else in the house has tasted them yet, and I’m not sure they’ll even get a chance – I may hoard them all to myself! Ha! They are really yummy, and I was so happy to be rewarded with something that tasted super delish, after all the cosmetic damage I caused them!!

from Kris B.

Take-10 Super Cookies

I am doing my best to be intentional but not obsessive about eating well these days.  In an effort to accommodate my inner cookie monster I went on the hunt for a cookie recipe that had at least a little redeeming nutritional value.  I will be the first to admit that I am skeptical about anything that uses the words “healthy” and “cookie” in its name.  That skepticism carried into this week’s recipe for Take-10 Super Cookies as well.  But, I made them anyway and boy am I glad!

These are called super cookies because, according to their description on the King Arthur Flour website, “they’re moist, chewy, and packed with tasty ingredients.” And  Take-10 “because 10 of the ingredients are considered by cancer researchers to be “breast-cancer friendly”, and a good start towards preventing breast cancer.”

Those ten ingredients are:

• olive oil
• cinnamon
• ginger
• cloves
• carrots
• dried cranberries
• bittersweet chocolate chips
• almonds
• white whole wheat flour
• rolled oats

The other ingredients needed to make these cookies are:

• brown sugar
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• vanilla extract
• egg
• boiled cider (substitute maple syrup or dark corn syrup, if desired)

This may seem like a lengthy list of ingredients, but the cookies mix up easily.  The wet ingredients and the spices are mixed.  The carrots, cranberries, chips, and nuts are added, followed by the flour and lastly the rolled oats.  The one thing that I forgot to do first was toast the almonds (10 minutes in a 350 degree oven, which is the same temperature at which the cookies bake so it wasn’t a huge slow down to the process.) The ingredients were all mixed in a single bowl with a wooden spoon, making for quick and easy clean-up.  Another bonus to this recipe!

Full disclosure here…my cookies were actually “Take-9” because I omitted the chocolate chips.  Seems crazy to omit chocolate, right?  This decision had nothing to do with health, nutrition, or calories.  I made it based purely on personal preferences.  My husband does not like baked chocolate of any kind and I am not a fan of the combination of chocolate and fruit, except for chocolate dipped strawberries! 🙂  Chocolate and cranberries do not sound like a match made in heaven to me.  But hey…to each his own!  Give it a try!

The spice combination in these cookies is perfect!  And the toasted almonds send the flavor right over the top!  The Take-10 Super cookies are like a marriage between carrot cake and an oatmeal-craisin cookies.  This, to me, does seem like a match made in heaven! 🙂

My search for a healthy-ish cookie is now over.  This one is a hit at our house!