#summer bars

Lemon Bars

Delicious sweet-tart bars sprinkled with just a touch of powdered sugar. A classic spring and summer dessert!

Makes 36-48 bars Preparation time: 50 minutes

Ingredients 2 cups flour ½ cup powdered sugar 1 cup unsalted butter 1 ½ cups sugar ¼ cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon lemon zest 4 eggs 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Directions

Combine 2 cups flour and ½ cup powdered sugar in a medium bowl.

Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or fork) to make fine crumbs.

Press mixture into a 9x13-inch baking pan, pressing ½ inch up the sides.

Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes, until just golden brown at edges.

For filling, mix sugar, ¼ cup flour and baking powder; add lemon juice, lemon zest and eggs. Pour mixture over hot crust. Bake 20 additional minutes at 350 F. Cool completely.

Lemon Blueberry Bars

Impress your dinner guests with these tasty Lemon Blueberry Bars. They’re bursting with fresh blueberries and topped with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Servings: 24 bars

1 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 cups flour 4 eggs 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup flour 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 cups fresh blueberries Powdered sugar

In large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute).  Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.  Blend in 2 cups flour until a soft, crumbly dough forms.  Press mixture evenly onto bottom of a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking pan.  Bake in a preheated 350 F oven until light golden brown (18-20 minutes). 

In small bowl, combine eggs, sugar, lemon juice, 1/4 cup flour, lemon peel and baking powder; beat until well blended (about 2 minutes). 

Sprinkle berries over warm crust.  Pour filling over evenly arranged berries with a spoon.  Bake until filling is lightly browned and set (30-35 minutes).  Cool completely.  Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Raspberry Shortbread Bars

Soft, buttery shortbread filled with a layer of raspberry preserves. Delicious made with other types of jams and preserves, too! Tip: For extra light-and-flaky shortbread, we skip the rolling pin and use a box grater to grate the chilled dough into our baking dish instead.

Makes 2 dozen 2-inch bars Active time: 25 minutes Total time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup sugar 2 large egg yolks ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract ¾ cup seedless raspberry preserves or jam (8 ounces) Confectioners sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.

In another medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar at low speed until combined. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until a soft dough forms.

Halve the dough and form into logs. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 350 F and butter a 9x13 baking dish.

Working over the baking dish, coarsely shred 1 log of dough on the large holes of a box grater, evenly distributing the dough in the baking dish. Do not pat or press the dough.

Using a spoon, dollop the preserves over the dough and gently spread it in an even layer.

Grate the second log of dough on top. Using a rubber spatula, tuck in any shreds of dough sticking to the side of the baking dish to prevent them from burning.

Bake the shortbread on the bottom rack of the oven for about 35 minutes, covering it with foil halfway through baking. The shortbread is done when the pastry is golden all over.

Let cool completely, then cut into 24 bars. Dust the tops with confectioners sugar and serve.

Strawberry Crumble Bars

Twin Cities food blogger greens & chocolate shares a taste of spring with these delightful strawberry bars – perfect for breakfast, dessert and everything in between!

The unseasonably warm weather we had in February has me thinking about all of the spring produce that I can’t wait to cook with. Radishes, asparagus, artichokes, rhubarb, peas, lemons and strawberries. Oh, the possibilities!  

The one problem? We live in Minnesota. Usually this isn’t a problem. I love living in Minnesota! It’s a great place to live. But as far as produce, we have months before those veggies are going to be popping up in our gardens!

Although local strawberries aren’t quite at their peak, I couldn’t help but pick up a big carton of them. I had big plans for these strawberries: Strawberry Crumble Bars.

Let’s just start by pointing out the obvious downfall of this recipe, which is that it involves three different components. Meaning three different bowls that we have to dirty and three sets of steps we have to follow. I know, it’s annoying. But for one, technically you can use the bowl that you mixed up the crust in for the crumble as well. It’s practically the same ingredients, just different proportions. No harm done and one less bowl to clean.

Can I just say these bars are 100% worth the extra steps? The crust and crumble topping are both so buttery and delicious and the strawberry filling is bursting with fresh strawberry flavor!

They’re the kind of bars that are really perfect any time of day. With your morning coffee. After lunch for a sweet treat. For your mid-afternoon snack. Or with ice cream as a late-night dessert. These bars will fit the bill for all of those scenarios. Believe me, I’ve tested them all out.

Strawberry Crumble Bars

Makes one 9x13” pan Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients For the crust: 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature ½ cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon salt

For the strawberry layer: 3 cups cored & chopped strawberries, measured after chopping 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 teaspoon lemon zest

For the streusel topping: ½ cup unsalted butter, melted 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour ⅔ cup packed light brown sugar ¼ cup granulated sugar ½ teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

Heat oven to 325 F. 

Line a 9x13 baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on each side. Grease with butter or non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl using an electric or hand-held mixer on medium speed, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined. 

Add vanilla and beat until combined.

Turn the mixer down to low and beat in the flour until combined. 

Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes. While it is baking, make the strawberry layer and topping. 

To make the strawberry layer toss together the strawberries, cornstarch, sugar and lemon zest in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

To make the streusel topping, in a medium bowl stir together all the streusel ingredients using a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula. It will be crumbly and that’s okay. 

After the bottom layer is done baking, remove it from the oven.

Carefully spoon the strawberry mixture over the shortbread base until it's evenly covered. Then crumble the streusel layer over the strawberry layer.

Bake for 50-55 minutes until the streusel topping begins to turn golden brown and you can see the strawberry layer bubbling underneath.

S'mores Blondies

It's everything you love about s'mores, minus the campfire! These delicious cookie bars from Twin Cities food blogger greens & chocolateare the perfect dessert to bring to your next potluck or barbecue.

As we sail through spring and approach summer, I can’t help but get excited for a few things. For one, warmer weather. While I embrace winter in Minnesota and everything it has to offer, I live for 80-degree days and the sun beating down on my shoulders. Goodbye cozy sweaters, nightly cups of hot tea and heavy jackets, and helloooooo sundresses, sandals and drinks on the patio!  

With the warmer weather also comes grilling season and who doesn’t love grilling season?! It makes dinnertime so easy and even though I do love a good tater tot casserole, I love the light and fresh flavors of summer even more.

Another thing I’m excited about? Bonfires at night. And, of course, the s’mores that come with them. Since we don’t have a fire pit at our house yet, bonfires and s’mores are something we pretty much only have when we’re at the cabin. Such a shame.  

Luckily, I have a solution to each and every one of my unsatisfied s’mores cravings: S’mores Blondies!

Let me assure you, these are not just a blondie recipe with marshmallow and Hershey’s chocolate in it. Definitely not. I went a step further and added crushed graham crackers to the batter, making these taste even more like s’mores.  

To make the blondies, you actually divide the batter in half and have a bottom layer of graham cracker blondie topped with marshmallow fluff and Hershey’s chocolate, and then a layer of graham cracker blondie on top. I figured this replicated s’mores even more, y’know?  

While they don’t have one of my favorite parts of s’mores, which is the burnt part of the marshmallow, these still definitely satisfy that craving. They are just as gooey and sweet as the real deal!

S'mores Blondies

Makes 24 bars Preparation time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups finely crushed graham cracker crumbs (about two sleeves)

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme

4 Hershey’s milk chocolate bars

½ cup milk chocolate chips

Directions

Heat oven to 350 F.

Line a 9x13-inch pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on the two shorter sides.

Grease the foil with butter or cooking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt.

In a separate large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy with electric mixer, about 1 minute.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as needed.

Add the vanilla and beat until combined.

Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and beat until combined.

Evenly press half the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Drop the marshmallow creme by spoonfuls onto the dough and spread into an even layer.

Layer Hershey’s chocolate bars. Note: I broke the chocolate bars into the little rectangles and randomly scattered them on top of the marshmallow creme.

Drop the remaining cookie dough onto the surface in clumps, then flatten them slightly. You don’t need to worry about smoothing the dough over the entire surface, as there will be some open areas where the chocolate and marshmallow are exposed.

Top with chocolate chips, lightly pressing them into the dough.