Pink Lemonade Cookies

This June we've had a decent amount of sunny, nice weather and it's been making me crave light and summery foods.  So when I had to bake something for a potluck at work, pink lemonade was on my mind.  I've already made bars with that flavor, but wanted to try a cookie too.  (Apparently making everything but actual pink lemonade...hm...)

When looking for a recipe, most of them included either a mix of some kind (cookie or cake), concentrate, or food coloring.  Yuck!  I eventually found one that didn't use any of that, and it is awesome.

Fresh lemon juice and zest, with a splash of fresh, pureed strawberries create the flavor base.  Pureeing the strawberries was the perfect use of my itty bitty food processor. So cute, and guaranteed to send curious kitties racing away from the kitchen in terror from the scary appliance.

The dough was a bit wet to work with, but certainly not enough to be frustrating... or to discourage you from baking these tasty, little gems!

Bright, tangy, lemony flavor comes through with a bit of sweetness in these cookies.  It's a perfect balance.  The dough was tasty, but a cool, baked cookie was even better.  They were a hit at the potluck, as well as with some of the husband's coworkers as well!

Pink Lemonade Cookies
(from Healthy. Delicious.)
Makes ~ 1 1/2 dozen cookies

8 Tablespoons butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
4 large strawberries
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon zest
2 Tablespoonsfresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
2½ cups Flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350*F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the berries and vanilla to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Add ⅓ cup of the strawberry puree, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the butter and sugar mixture.  You could discard any extra puree or save it for another use, like in your breakfast oatmeal or to flavor an adult beverage. ;-)  Mix well.

Stir in the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda until a wet dough forms.

Pour the powdered sugar into a small dish. Drop 1 Tablespoon dough into the powdered sugar. Roll into a ball; shake off excess sugar. Repeat with remaining dough. Arrange on a cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.

Bake 9-12 minutes, until no longer wet (the tops of the cookies will be shiny and slightly crinkled).

Enjoy!

Pink Lemonade Bars

As a kid, Memorial Day always marked the beginning of summer.  School was almost over for the year, and the days got longer and warmer.  That's not exactly how it works in the Pacific Northwest (we won't get summer until July 5, really...)  However, Memorial Day still brings to mind cooking out on a sunny day - bratwurst, hamburgers, potato salad, beer, and some fruity dessert.  And Smitten Kitchen has supplied the perfect dessert for a summer get together - Pink Lemonade Bars.

A sweet shortbread crust with a tangy, sweet, lemony filling - yum.  And no food coloring!  There's fruit in it, so it's healthy, right?

It was a pretty easy recipe overall.  However, I will admit that I stupidly struggled with the raspberry puree a bit.  After liquefying the berries in the food processor, I attempted to strain out the seeds with my fine-mesh sieve, as directed.  Nothing actually came through the sieve, despite me pressing on it a bit.  Hm.  So I tried a slightly larger fine-mesh sieve, and only after some manipulation did the puree begin to come through.  But then, to my dismay, some seeds made it through as well.  Gah!  So then I went back to my original fine-mesh sieve, and got what I needed.

I'm sure there was some user error, and it left me with quite a mess, but in the end, it all worked out quite well.  Next time, I might try it with some cooked-down strawberries for the 'pink', just to see if it's any easier.  And also to try a different flavor.

These bars were a delightful finish to our "inner-city grilling" (using a broiler for brats works amazingly well).  I'm sure these bars will be quite the summer favorite!

Pink Lemonade Bars
(from Smitten Kitchen)
Makes 1 8x8 pan - Number depends on how large you cut them!

For the base:
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup (125 grams) flour

For the lemonade layer:
1 cup (about 5 ounces or 140 grams) raspberries
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice; this should only require 1 large or 2 small lemons
1/3 cup (40 grams) all-purpose flour
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line an 8x8x2-inch baking pan with parchment, letting it extend up two sides. Butter or coat the bottom and sides with a nonstick spray and set the pan aside.

Make the base: In a food processor, pulse together the sugar, zest and salt until combined. Add the butter and pulse until it is evenly dispersed in the dough. Add the flour and pulse the machine until it’s just combined and the mixture is crumbly. Press the dough into the prepared pan and about 1/2-inch up the sides. Don’t worry about making this perfect; mine was an uneven mess and nobody can tell. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly browned at edges. Let cool on a rack while you prepare the filling (though no need for it to be completely cool when you fill it). Leave oven on.

Make the pink lemonade layer: Puree the raspberries in your food processor until they’re as liquefied as they’ll get. Run the puree through a fine-mesh sieve, trying to press out all the raspberry puree that you can, leaving the seeds behind. I ended up with 1/3 cup strained puree; don’t worry if you get a smidge less, you won't need it all.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of raspberry puree*. Stir in flour. Pour into cooling crust and return pan to the oven, baking the bars until they’re set (they’ll barely jiggle) and slightly golden at the edges, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into rectangles. (You can speed this up in the fridge.)  Dust with powdered sugar just prior to serving.

*So, this is just to note that clearly the amount of red tint one gets from the berries can vary greatly by the berries. If yours looks crazy saturated with pink and you’ve only added two tablespoons puree, you can always add another tablespoon lemon juice instead of the last spoonful of raspberry. On the flipside, if your berries seem pale, you can always add one less tablespoon of lemon juice and one more of the raspberries. The main thing is that you keep the amount of liquid (lemon juice + raspberry puree) at 7 tablespoons. More, and the bars might seem too soft. Less, they might seem too eggy.

Enjoy!

Hefeweizen Cupcakes

It's been my tradition (does two years constitute a tradition?) to bake up alcohol-laced cupcakes for our friend's Super Bowl party.  Last year I made Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, which were a huge hit.  Since I'd already used a dark beer for a cupcake, I wanted to give a lighter beer a shot.

I've seen this Hefeweizen cupcake recipe on the The Cupcake Project blog for awhile, and thought this would be the perfect recipe to try.

As I'm not much of a beer person (wine is more of my thing), I left the beer choice up to the husband, and he chose Widmer Brothers, a regional beer.  Typically, a wheat beer is paired with lemon, so I ran with that.

The cake itself is different than any I've made before, but I really like the texture.  It's very light, and sponge-like, and not crumbly like some cake.  And the taste was spot on!  Again, light, with a slight lemon flavor and the beer lent a very subtle yeasty flavor.

This cake is light enough that it would also be perfect for any summer barbeques, so keep the recipe handy for July!

 The blogger on The Cupcake Project has made clear that she doesn't like buttercreams, so she paired it with a glaze.  I, however, love buttercream, so I tweaked a recipe I found on Epicurious.

For flavoring, I used a bit of fresh lemon juice and touch of vanilla.  The frosting was smooth, creamy, with a subtle flavor and it wasn't too sweet.  I'd been looking for a go-to buttercream, and this one is it!  It's versatile, easy, and tasty.

You're wondering, of course, if the cupcakes were well-received at the party.  I can happily report that we came home with an empty cupcake carrier, so I'd say they were a rousing success!


Hefeweizen Cupcakes
(from The Cupcake Project/Beantown Baker)
Makes 18 cupcakes

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable oil
zest of one large lemon
6 Tbsp milk
2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup Hefeweizen or other wheat beer

In a large mixing bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually mix in the sugar.  Mix in baking powder, baking soda, vegetable oil, zest, and milk.  Mix in half of the flour, combine.  Then pour in beer and combine.  Add in remaining flour.

Prepare cupcake pans with liners and fill 3/4 full.  (They don't raise very much)  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

Remove from pan and let cool on cooling racks.  Frost only when they're room temperature.

Lemon Buttercream
(from Epicurious)
Makes ~  2.5 cups

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, like Crisco
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp meringue powder
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (more if you desire, to desired flavor and texture - for other flavors, use water, milk, liqueur, etc)
Additional decoration - I used lemon zest

Cream shortening and butter.  Add vanilla extract (or other flavoring if you desire) and salt.  Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time.  Add meringue powder.  (The mixture will appear dry.)

Add liquid of choice and beat until light and fluffy (approximately 5 to 8 minutes).  Keep the bowl covered with a damp cloth or plastic wrap.
Storage: Store the icing in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.

Enjoy!