This will be your Homemade Christmas Gift: Citron Bars

This is the best time to plan out what will you give away this coming Christmas. Homemade gifts are special, receivers always appreciate labors of love and of course homemade gifts don't get recycled. 

Christmas is just around the corner, so I'm feeling extra generous. I'm sharing with you a very special special recipe very good for gift giving: Lemon Bars. 

This Lemon Bars recipe is extra special, really decadent and rich but surprisingly refreshing. And it will be a surprising gift to your family and friends because most of us will be receiving chocolate cakes, fruit cakes, brownies, pastries, bars, cheesecakes etc... but not Lemon Bars.

This recipe is very easy to make. Just basic and easy to find ingredients and short cooking time. You don't need to have great culinary expertise to do this. You can double or triple the recipe if you are making huge batches.


Lemon Bars

For the base crust

1 c All Purpose Flour
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar  ( can be sub by caster sugar )
1/4 tsp salt (very important! to balance the flavor, anti-umay)
1/2 c butter (baker's best if you are in econo mode, anchor is very okay, danish butter is extra special (Lurpak will do!) )

For the Citron topping

3/4 cup caster sugar / sifted white sugar
2 T of APF
1/4 t salt
2 large eggs
1 T grated lemon zest
1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice ( make it one and half squeezed lemon then add water to make it 1/2 cup )  *1/2 c of pure lemon juice is too sour

This recipe is for an 8x8 square pan. Grease - Line - Grease. Combine flour, sugar and salt in bowl cut in the butter until pea size. If you have a food processor this task will be easy. But you can always use a fork or a pastry bender or even your fingers. Just mash and rub in the butter to the flour mixture. Make sure the butter is softened. 

Dump the dough to the prepared pan and press evenly over the bottom, the dough will look too little but its enough, the base crust is supposedly thin. It should look like this:

Bake until the edges are golden brown or crisp brown. Do not over bake, remember you will return this again back to the oven. Here loo at the edges, just the right browning.

Now for the topping...

Whisk sugar, flour, salt together in a bowl. Whisk in eggs then add lemon zest and juice. TASTE the mixture I know its gross with the raw eggs but you have to taste if its too sweet or too sour for you remember this recipe is according to my taste buds  If its okay then pour over the crust. Return to oven and bake until filling is just set. Around 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before slicing. Best eaten cold and sprinkled with icing sugar.

So now you have really good Lemon Bars. Package this in a clear plastic box then tie it with a bright red ribbon, write a really good Christmas message and your good to go! Happy Holidays folks! 

Mangoriffic! - Mango Loaf

I've been busy this past days, with so many errands, baking and researching to do. Yes researching for what I will be selling for Christmas. Until now I still dont have any concrete idea what to offer. Really bleak... weak... bleak... whatever.

Anyways, I know I'll get by... I always do. 

Instead I formulated a brilliant recipe for a Mango Loaf Cake. Not really formulated but I twisted my Banana Loaf Cake recipe and turned it into a Mango Loaf. At first I thought it wont work, because I know in the first place that mango is more acidic than bananas, maybe it wont rise and it will turn out rock hard. When it went out the oven it looks depressing. Too brown for a mango loaf, dry, and kinda too solid. But as always I gave it a chance, I let it cool then wrap it in a foil then refrigerate it overnight. 

Its taste test time. In the morning, when I sliced it I was greeted by a bright mango cake below the dark brown crust dotted with real mango bits. It was moist, soft and fluffy, sweet mango smelling and its dense in a good way. You can eat it in one seating like what my nephew did. 

Just like in real life: " Always give it another day to judge someone or something. "