Lemon Bars

 I made these Lemon Bars last month for a Dessert Social I catered and they are delish!
Try them this weekend for your Easter buffet ~ you won't be disappointed. 

Lemon Bars
Recipe from joyofbaking.com

Crust:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1/8 tsp salt

Filling:

1 cup granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately 2 large lemons)

1 T grated lemon zest

2 T all-purpose flour

For crust: With an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press into the bottom of your greased 9 x 13 inch pan and bake 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

For filling: With an electric mixer beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to combine. Fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until filling is set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. To serve, cut into bars and dust with powdered sugar. These are best served on the day they are made, but they can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

Vanilla Oreo Truffles

I made these Oreo Truffles a couple of weeks ago for my friend Bekka's birthday party and they were a huge hit!  Everyone commented on how yummy they were. They are so easy to make and look really pretty on a dessert buffet.  I decided to put mine in these adorable mini cupcake liners I bought from Bake It Pretty.  Amanda has the cutest baking supplies ~ you should check out her site.

Vanilla Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. Golden Oreos

1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

White or Milk Chocolate for dipping

Crush Oreos in a food processor.  Add cream cheese and mix until a dough forms.

Roll into balls and freeze for about 15 minutes.

Dip in melted chocolate & decorate as desired. I keep mine in the freezer until I am ready to use them.

Remove from freezer at least one hour before serving.

Cinnamon Bun Cake

Earlier this week I was trying to decide on something sweet to take to work to celebrate the birthday of one of my co-workers.  Since I had taken cupcakes to work lately, I thought this cake would be something new to try.  I found the recipe on yourhomebasedmom.com.  Leigh Anne has wonderful recipes and I have loved every one that I have made so far. 
My daughter thought this cake was fantastic and everyone at the office gave it rave reviews too.  I would be a wonderful cake to serve for a brunch.  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Bun Cake
recipe from yourhomebasedmom.com

Batter:

1 yellow cake mix

3/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

8 oz. sour cream

Cinnamon Swirl:

1 cup brown sugar

1 T cinnamon

1 cup chopped pecans (I left these out)

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

3 T milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 T softened butter

Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9 x 13 cake pan.
With an electric mixer blend cake mix, oil, brown sugar, eggs and sour cream.

For the cinnamon swirl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped pecans in a seperate bowl. 
Pour half of the cake batter into the baking pan.  Sprinkle half of the cinnamon mixture and swirl over the batter lightly.  Run a knife through the cake mix to swirl the cinnamon - be careful not to touch the bottom of the pan with the knife. Pour the rest of the batter into the pan.  Sprinkle with the rest of the cinnamon mixture over the top of the pan.
Bake for 45 minutes.  Drizzle icing over the top of the baked cake while still warm.

Pineapple Mojito Jell-O Shots

I am so tired of winter! I just want to go someplace warm, lay by a pool and drink Diet Cokes and cocktails all day. But since I have to work and I have a list of household projects to do, I guess I will just stay at home and invite some girlfriends over for these Jell-O shots. We can pretend we are on vacation for the evening! It has been so cold here lately that we have been at home a lot more than usual. I have been noticing that I need to do some painting and updating around here. During the last big snowstorm I got productive and ripped all the wallpaper off the walls downstairs in our rec room and bar area. I want to update this space with some fresh paint, new barstools and pictures. Maybe I'll post some before pictures and get some ideas from you all. Anyway, make yourself some Jell-O shots, call your girlfriends and pretend you're on a tropical getaway too. Happy Friday!

Pineapple Mojito Jell-O Shots

recipe from Foodnetwork.com

10-12 plastic shot glasses

1 can of pineapple tidbits

12 fresh mint leaves

3 T pineapple juice

3 T fresh squeezed lime juice

1 small pkg. pineapple jell-o

1 small pkg. lime jell-o

1 tsp sugar

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup light rum

Line up your shot glasses and place 2-4 pineapple tidbits in the bottom of each glass. Bruise the mint leaves in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add the lime juice, pineapple juice and shake them together. In a medium bowl combine the lime and pineapple jell-o and the sugar. Stir in the boiling water and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Strain the juices into the jell-o and add stir in the rum. Pour into plastic shot glasses and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.

Enjoy!

30th Birthday Party Cupcakes & Homemade Cupcake Stand

This past weekend we held a 30th Birthday Party for my friend Bekka. I had a great time making the cupcakes. The 30's and B's on top are made from Candy Melts. I melted them in a plastic ziploc baggie and then piped the letters and numbers onto wax paper. I think they turned out really cute. We also made our own cupcake stand by stacking different sized boxes and then wrapping them with silver wrapping paper and ribbon.

We had a Hollywood theme complete with a red carpet and Hollywood Walk of Fame. Bekka loves the Twilight Series, so our friend Kristy made sure that Edward was at the party too!

What a fun night!