Lemon Curd Shortbread Tartlets

Lemons. Funny that something so mouth puckering is also the thing that holds smiles and memories. Childhood lemonade stands. Adult lemonade and vodkas. Summertime lemon meringue pie. Late night lemon chicken takeout. Even just the smell of lemons is refreshing. And, seriously, what's better than watching a toddler's first bite of a lemon!

These little bites of happiness won't make you pucker quite like those adorable toddlers but they will satisfy your intense desire for a zingy-tangy-sweet dessert. The shortbread base brings it all together in a finger food style dessert. And really, any sweet treat that you can eat with your hands is already on its way to being a winner in my book!

Lemon Curd Shortbread Tartlets

Lemon Curd (adapted from Fine Cooking)

Ingredients

3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon zest

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter for a minute.
2. Add the white sugar and beat for another two minutes until smooth.
3. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for one minute more.
4. Add the lemon juice and mix. Note: The mixture will look ridiculously curdled, but as you cook it, it will all come together!
5. In a medium saucepan, cook the lemon mixture over low heat. As the mixture heats up and the butter melts you’ll see the mixture smooth and lost its curdled appearance.
6. Turn up the heat to medium.
7. Stir! Stir! Stir! And stir a bit more until the lemon curd starts to thicken and reaches 170 degrees F. You do not want to bring it to a boil!
8. Remove the curd from the heat; add in the lemon zest.
9. Place the curd in a bowl and press plastic wrap on the surface of it. Cool in the fridge. It will continue to thicken as it cools. It should last about a week.

Shortbread Cookie Cups

Ingredients

1 cup  salted butter, softened

1 cup confectioners' or icing sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tsp vanilla powder (if available otherwise omit)

2 cups all purpose flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly spray or grease 24 mini cupcake pan.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the butter for 3 minutes.
3. Add the sugar and beat for an additional minute.
4. Add the vanillas and mix in.
5. Carefully beat in the flour until it comes together in a smooth ball.
6. Place a generous tablespoon or so of dough into each mini muffin tin. Using your fingers, mold the dough into a cup ensuring it goes up the side of the tin.
7. Use a fork to prick the dough all over; this allows any steam to escape, and prevents the shortbread from bubbling as it bakes.
8. Bake the shortbread until it's a light golden brown across the top surface, and a deeper golden brown around the edges, about 15- 20 minutes.
9. Remove it from the oven. You’ll notice that the shortbread doesn’t look like a cup! So using a spoon or a mini cookie dough scooper, press into the dough to make a cup shape.
10. Cool completely.

Assembly

1. Carefully remove the shortbread cups from the pan and place on flat surface.
2. Add a heaping tablespoon of lemon curd to each cookie cup.
3. If desired, use a sieve to sprinkle a little bit of icing sugar over the lemon curd shortbread cup just before serving.

See how they are all puffed up? We have to make them look more like a cup to hold the curd.

Use a cookie scoop or spoon to press down on the baked tartlets to make a large indentation.

Perfect.

Heat but do not boil. The initial mixture will look a bit curdled
but it all comes together with a little heat.

Pour into a container and stir in the zest.

The mixture will thicken like this.

Remove the cups and place on serving platter.

Add a tablespoon or so of lemon curd.

Repeat until all cups are filled.

Just before serving dust with icing sugar.

Yum.

Millionaire Bars

If your family is anything like ours, your family calendar is bursting at the seams - between all the kids' activities like  play-dates, soccer, swimming, homework, homework and more homework, violin practice, track and field,  not to mention the occasional workout for yourself, work, appointments etc etc - there is not always time for family dinners! And family dinners that are relaxed, homemade and without pressure to get somewhere else are even more rare.

To combat all this craziness, we try to have a bit more of an old school family dinner on Saturday or Sunday. Each week dessert duty goes to a different family member. The rules are it has to be homemade - no store bought cake/cookies etc. This idea has been a true hit with the kids! My 7 and 9 year olds love planning what they are going to create, shopping for the ingredients and the actual baking of their masterpiece dessert. It's also a good opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with the kids since adult supervision is still needed at their age.

Last week, my daughter made these absolutely fabulous millionaire bars or homemade Twix bars. This dessert looks more complicated than it really is so it's perfect for little hands. And let's face it - chocolate, caramel and shortbread? It's a trifecta of goodness!

Adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe. The bars can be cut in any size desired so you can easily get anywhere from 12 huge bars to 50 small bars.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, unsalted, at room temperature

1 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

pinch of salt

2 cups caramels

4 tbsp whipping cream

3 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Prepare pan by cutting a 9 x 15 inch piece of parchment.

Place it so the extra over hangs.

Spray with baking spray and set aside.

Crust

1. Using a stand mixer, beat butter, salt and icing sugar at medium speed until well combined. 
2. Add vanilla and combine. 
3. Add flour on low speed until it starts to come together.
4. Increase speed to medium and continue to mix until dough comes together and is smooth.
5. Gently spread dough into the pan and pat with fingers to get it into the corners.
6. Prick the batter base multiple times with a fork.
7. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until edges are golden.
8. Place on cooling rack.
9. Set side to cool completely.

Caramel Layer

1. On low heat, melt the caramels and cream.
2. Pour over cooled base.
3. Place in fridge for 15 minutes to set slightly.

Chocolate Layer

1. Over very low heat, stir constantly and melt the chocolate chips in a medium sauce pan.
2. Pour over caramel layer.
3. Return to fridge to cool and set for 4 hours or overnight.

To serve

1. Run a knife around the edges of the pan.
2. Carefully pull the dessert out by lifting it out by the parchment over hang.
3. Cut into desired sizes. 

Extreme Caffeine-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

These are, without a word of a lie, my favorite cookies ever! Buttery, chocolatey, and a double hit of coffee flavour makes this shortbread recipe a must have in any baker's repertoire. Every time I share these cookies, someone asks for the recipe. I wish I could take credit for the idea but Dorie Greenspan is the original baker and Smitten Kitchen thankfully featured it for my eyes and taste buds to discover.

I've made them with just chocolate chips, a combo of chocolate chips and skor bits and now this version with cappuccino chips and mini chocolate chips. All of them will make your taste buds stand up and cheer!

I also like the use of a Ziploc bake to roll out the dough - it makes kitchen life super easy.

Let me know what you think of these little pieces of caffeine heaven!

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Baking: From My Home to Yours



Makes about 35 cookies

Ingredients


1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon boiling water
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners’ or powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 c cappuccino flavoured chips, chopped or whirred in a food processor a few times (I use Guittard brand chips)
1/2 c mini chocolate chips


What to do

• Dissolve the espresso powder in very hot water, let cool to room temperature.
• Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 4 minutes. You want the mixture to be light in colour and completely smooth.
• Add the vanilla and espresso, then reduce the mixer speed to low.
• On your lowest setting, add the flour. To prevent your cookies from being to brittle and dry mix in the flour just until it is combined. Don't over do it!
• Gently stir in the chips.
• Spoon the dough into a large Ziploc bag .
• Gently roll the dough so it becomes the size of the bag and is about 1/4 inch or 1/2 cm thick.
• Close the bag and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Line a large cookie sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.
• Cut or slice the bag open so that the top side of the bag is removed.
• Using a knife or a pizza cutter cut the dough into 1-1/2 - 2 inch squares.
• 13. Move the cookies onto the sheet. They don't spread much so you don't need too much space between them.
• Bake for 15- 20 minutes (depends on your oven - Mine take 18 minutes.)
• Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.
• I recommend baking them 24 hours ahead of time - their flavour improves.

Mom's Christmas Shortbread!

I think there are as many recipes for shortbread as there are Moms. This is my Mom's recipe. Christmas is not Christmas without these cookies. My Mom sent them 4,000 miles each year while I was in university. Many would end up in crumbs, but trust me, they tasted just as good that way as they did whole! They are amazing, simple and forever THE Christmas cookie in my house.

Ingredients
3 cups flour
2 cups butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup corn starch


What to do

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and corn starch.
3. Beat butter until fluffy.
4. In three additions, add flour mixture to butter and mix after each addition.
5. Using small cookie scoop, drop cookies on to cookie sheet and press lightly with a fork.
6. If desired, dust with sanding sugar or other sprinkles.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until slightly golden at edges.
8. Cool for 5 minutes and remove to cooling rack.

• These cookies can be frozen and, in fact, taste great straight from the freezer.
• Crumbs also taste great sprinkled over ice cream!