Showing posts with label lemon zest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lemon zest. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

the best lemon bars in the world - a classic perfected


Lemon Bars are one of those classic desserts you can find in about any of the supermarkets these days. What's different about my lemon bars is they actually taste good. I know, surprising (not the part about my lemon bars tasting good, the part about lemon bars tasting good at all). Sweet without being cloyingly so, buttery without being too rich, and certainly not dense. If I were to use one word to describe these lemon bars it would be, perfect. The dilemma chefs have always had when making lemon bars, was getting a firm enough top, without sacrificing a crispy bottom. With this recipe you won't have to give up any of that. This is the perfect summer dessert, gift, or picnic item for your next special occasion (or just for everyday eating). It's absolute perfection in a bar, so let's get started (before I go off on one of my tangents). By the way, did I tell you that I finally got a twitter account. @chefchowblog #awesome #madcookingskills #i'mnotmadatyou #i'msorry #don'tcry #nowyou'remakingmecry. Why didn't you stop me!



Like many of our recipes we'll start with the butter. You want to cut the butter into small chunks and put it on a plate in the freezer to harden. Whenever you're baking, often times the temperature of your butter will dictate the success of whatever you're making. Recipes that call for melted butter (i.e. cookies) are intended to have a chewy outcome. Desserts that require the butter to be cold (i.e. pies, pastries) mean the end product will one of these three, crispy, crunchy, or flaky (it could even be all three, oh my). The more you chow.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

raspberry jam swirled buns - a surprising experimental success!


Imagine splicing one of these in half and spreading warm butter on its toasty side. Actually, that's a good idea, and it's breakfast, hold on one second...



okay I'm back. If there are any typos it's because I have a roll in my left hand. I love sweet rolls, in fact before this blog I used to make all types of bread, baguettes, brioche, pita (I'll try to put out more yeast based recipes in the future). But I think my favorite in terms of the all important simplicity to reward ratio has to be the humble roll. Not only are these easy to make, but everyone craves over these. Unlike the store bought rolls which are dense and cakey, my buns are perfect - pun intended. These are fluffy, airy, full of flavor, and most of all you'll look like you spent hours to make these. Well actually you did but it's not a lot of work just waiting, I'll get to that below.