Cupcakes galore

Today is Veronica's end of year picnic. I signed up to bring a dessert, so I baked four dozen cupcakes for her school. Nothing fancy, I just used what I had on hand - white cake mix and red velvet. Duncan Hines was on sale for $.88 a while back, so I stocked up. I put icing on some, sprinkles on some, and left some plain.

Lemon Bars

So, I've been slacking. Not necessarily on baking, but on taking pictures and blogging. I made a couple batches of cookies and cupcakes for the kids that didn't make it here. Oh well.

Over the weekend I made lemon bars!! We spent the day with my Dad and I brought lunch over. His favorite flavor anything is lemon, so I thought these would be something he would like.

Very easy, and very yummy! Sort of a lemon pie in a bar.

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup butter, melted

4 eggs

2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

5/8 cup lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 2 cups flour and confectioners' sugar. Blend in the melted butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Combine the sugar, baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour so there will be no flour lumps. Stir the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally, stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven.
4. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until bars are set. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Veronica requested cookies and milk today, so chocolate chip cookies it is! The recipe is pretty straight forward. I halved it though, so that we wouldn't have a ton of cookies sitting around. I subbed half of the flour with wheat flour and I didn't have sea salt so I used regular salt.

• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt **
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

**If you only have table salt, use 1/2 tsp

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy. Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!