Lemon Marshmallow Bars-12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

Back at week 2 of this year’s 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats,  I posted this photo of some recipes I had made that just did not turn out quite like I had hoped.  One of the recipes was for Lemon Marshmallow Bars.  The challenges with the recipe that I made at that time were that the topping would not cut without cracking and that (I thought) the crust was too thick.

The bars, however, were very good.  In fact, a coworker said that this was perhaps one of the best sweets I had ever shared with her.  I decided to make the recipe again, making some changes that I hoped would help.  I baked the crust in a 10-x15-inch jelly roll pan instead of a 9x13-inch baking pan.  This made a thinner crust that pleased me more.  I eliminated the melted white chocolate chip topping and used my favorite frosting recipe instead.  This made a topping that cut nicely.  Now this is a cookie that I am very happy with, and I will use the base recipe often.

Because the flavoring for these bars comes from flavoring extract, it would be very easy to make them in other flavors such as cherry, orange, banana or mint.

I am developing some arthritis in my hands and find that recipes that call for cutting butter or margarine into dry ingredients are now more difficult for  me to make.  A little trick I have come up with is to use the whisk attachment on my Kitchen Aid mixer to do this for me.  I put the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl, cut the butter into slices and put on top of the dry ingredients.  Then I run the mixer on low until the mixture is crumbly, stopping and cleaning the whisk attachment when necessary.  This is much easier than cutting in the butter by hand.

The homemade marshmallow filling is very easy to make, but it really does need to be made with a stand mixer.  The marshmallow takes 10 minutes of beating at the highest speed which can get very tiring if using a hand mixer.  Because of the marshmallow center, the bars are most easily cut with a dampened knife that is cleaned frequently, and it will be necessary to give a little extra “push” to cut through the crust.

The original recipe came from M.m.m.m. More Cookies by Pillsbury, 1987.  It is one of those little cookbooks that are displayed at the check-out counters of grocery stores.

Lemon Marshmallow Bars
1 1/2 c. flour
2 3/4 c. sifted powdered sugar, divided
1  c. butter or margarine, divided
1 c. water, divided
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2 c. sugar
1 t. lemon extract
1 T. grated lemon peel
8 to 12 drops yellow food coloring
2 T. hot water
1 T. lemon juice

Place flour and 3/4 c. powdered sugar in a mixing bowl.  Cut in 3/4 c. butter or margarine until mixture is crumbly.  (See note above for doing this with an electric mixer.)  Press mixture into a foil-lined 10x15-inch jelly roll pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes until light golden brown.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.  In mixer bowl, combine 1/2 c. water and the unflavored gelatin.  Mix well and set aside.  In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and 1/2 c. water.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil two minutes.  Pour over gelatin mixture and mix well.  Set bowl in refrigerator for 5 minutes to cool.  Beat mixture at the highest speed of electric mixer until very thick.  This will usually take about 10 minutes.  Add lemon extract, food coloring and lemon peel.  Beat well.  Spoon marshmallow mixture over cooled crust, spreading as evenly as possible.  (The pan will be very full.)  Place in refrigerator to set.  When set, prepare topping by melting 1/4 c. butter in a large glass measuring cup.  Add 2 c. of sifted powdered sugar.  Mix well.  Stir in the water and lemon juice to make a spreading consistency.  Spread over the top of the marshmallow mixture.  Let set and cut into bars with a moistened knife.  Store covered with plastic wrap in refrigerator.  Makes about 48 bars.

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats is hosted by Brenda from Meal Planning Magic.  We aren't yet halfway so there is still plenty of time to join in the fun.  You can go to this post to sign up.  Remember, you are not obligated to post every week if for some reason you can't.

Check out the links below to see what other bloggers have posted this week.

Panko Crusted Pork Cutlets with Go-To Dry Rub for Pork-Secret Recipe Club

My assigned blog for August’s Secret Recipe Club was Fit Mama Real Food. Heather has been blogging since 2009.  It turns out that she lives in the same state that I do.  I am, of course, probably old enough to be her grandmother.

Heather's emphasis is on a healthy lifestyle and cooking.  As always I found a number of recipes that went on my "to make" list:  Carne Asada Dry Rub, Irresistible Chocolate Brownie Cake or Muffins, Homemade Whole Wheat Dry Pancake Mix, and 4-Ingredient Tuna Cakes.

Because I had some pork tenderloin I planned to slice and cook for dinner, I decided to use Heather's Go-To Dry Rub for Pork recipe.   She had used it on grilled pork chops, but I figured that it would work with what I was making.  I was intrigued by the use of the allspice and cloves. These are not spices that I would have thought to use with pork.

Although I can never seem to get nice round pieces of pork when I pound out my tenderloin, the cutlets were very good.  They were nice and crispy on the outside and very moist inside.  I think that the flour in the rub helped the egg and panko to adhere to the cutlets.  I added the dry rub that was left over from rubbing the pork to the panko crumbs.  This helped to make the meat very flavorful.  This recipe will be going in the regular rotation of recipes for making pork tenderloin, and I will also be using the rub with pork chops.  Thanks, Heather.  This is a great one.

Panko Crusted Pork Cutlets with
Go-To Dry Rub for Pork

Go -To Dry Rub for Pork
2 T. flour white or whole wheat
2 t. dried oregano
2 t. thyme, crushed
3/4 t. pepper, coarse ground if possible
1/2 t. sea salt
1/4 t. allspice
1/8 t. cloves

3/4 lb. pork tenderloin
1 egg
1 T. lemon juice
2/3 c. panko crumbs
2 T. butter
1 T. olive oil

Cut pork tenderloin into 4 slices.  Place between two sheets of waxed paper and pound until 1/4-inch thick.  In a small bowl combine flour, oregano, thyme, pepper, salt, allspice and cloves.  Mix well.  Rub spice mixture on both sides of pork slices and set aside.  (You will not need quite all of the rub.)  Beat egg and lemon juice together in a shallow container until  well blended.  In another shallow container, mix panko crumbs and any remaining rub mixture until well blended.  Dip pork slices in egg mixture and then into panko mixture.  Place on a plate until all slices have been coated.  In a medium frying pan, heat butter and olive oil until hot.  Add pork slices and cook 3-4 minutes until well browned, turn and cook another 2 to 3 minutes until the second side is well browned.  Drain on paper towels.  Makes 4 slices.

You can find all the information about joining in the fun of Secret Recipe Club here.

Linking to these great parties:

Inspiration Monday

Marvelous Monday

Melt in Your Mouth Monday

Mix It Up Monday

Made by You Monday

Monday Funday

Make the Scene Monday

Busy Monday

12 Weeks of Christmas Treats-Tart and Tasty Lemon Bars

Time is moving along, and we are at week five of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats hosted by Brenda from Meal Planning Magic. 

I am continuing with sharing recipes made with Holiday Cookie Mix.  Today was wet and rainy, cloudy and gray so I wanted to make something bright and cheery.  The answer was Lemon Bars.  These are just a take on the typical lemon bar cookie using the cookie mix for the crust.  By now you probably realize that the mix can be used as the crust layer for many different layered bar cookies.

This recipe works best if the eggs are at room temperature which does take a little advance planning.  If you forget to remove the eggs from the fridge and don’t want to wait for them to warm up, cover the eggs with warm water and let them set 10-15 minutes.  This is what I do most of the time as I rarely remember to get eggs from the fridge ahead of time.

Putting the lemons in a microwave for 30 seconds and then rolling them on the counter will help release the juice.  I use the back of a spoon to squeeze out all the juice that I can into a glass measuring cup.  I pour the juice through a sieve to remove any pulp when I add the juice to the egg/sugar mixture.

For a couple of variations, you can add 1/2 c. chopped nuts or flaked coconut to the crust mix.

I mentioned in my original post that more than 12 different cookies could be made with the cookie mix.  I am posting some bonus recipes on my Saturday Sweets post and so far have posted a recipe for Chocolate Cottage Bars.  I will mention it when I post additional recipes.

The sweet/tartness of these makes them a nice contrast when included in a Christmas cookie tray.

Tart and Tasty Lemon Bars

3 c. Holiday Cookie Mix

4 eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. flour

1/2 c. fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons)

Powdered sugar

Measure cookie mix and press into a foil-lined and sprayed 9x13-inch baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees 12 to 15 minutes.  Set aside to cook 5 to 10 minutes.  In a large bowl beat eggs with a wire whisk until thick and lemon colored.  Add sugar and flour and beat until smooth.  Beat in lemon juice until mixture is well blended.  Pour on top of baked crust and bake an additional 20 minutes or until set.  Place pan on a rack to cool.  Dust top with sifted powdered sugar.  Cut into bars.  Makes about 32 bars.  Store in the refrigerator because of the high concentration of egg.

There is still time to join us in the fun.  Go here for complete details on Brenda's blog.