#91) Lemon Poppyseed Sandwich Cookies with Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling

As I was bustling around the kitchen making these lovely little sweet treats, it dawned on me just how much I have missed baking over the past year.  Don't get me wrong, I simply adore the trips to the playground, the toddler cuddles, and the countless other adorable 'mommy' things that have been occupying my time lately... but there is something about a dusting of flour over the countertop, the smell of freshly baked cookies, and licking the icing bowl clean that makes me dance around the kitchen with a goofy grin on my face.

For my 'come-back' recipe I wanted to use some fresh summer flavours - lemon and strawberry are two of my favourites and I figured it would be even better to mix them together than to just use one.  The cookies have a crisp lemon flavour and they melt in your mouth.  The filling has the expected tang of cream cheese frosting balanced with the sweetness of strawberry jam.

Mr Treat has a very different opinion than I regarding how much filling is appropriate in a sandwich cookie.  His philosophy - less is more (let the flavours blend, not compete).  My philosophy - more is more (let the flavours scream from the rooftops that they are here!).  He won this time, but I will leave it to you to decide how much of this scrumptious frosting filling to sandwich between your cookies (note that I only used about half of the frosting this recipe made and am currently looking into how to use it up in another recipe before I devour it all with a spoon).

And although I wouldn't suggest handing over the platter of cookies to any kid, Toddler Treat thoroughly enjoyed the bite or two he stole from his momma's treat.

Cookies

Ingredients 

1 cup butter or margarine, room temperature

1 ½ cups icing sugar

1 egg, room temperature

2 tsp lemon zest (1 large lemon or 2 small lemons)

2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1 tsp vanilla, or seeds of 1 vanilla pod

3-3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

2 tsp poppy seeds

Steps

Preheat oven to 400°F.

On low speed and with whisk attachment, cream together butter and icing sugar until pea-sized beads form. 

Change to paddle attachment.  Add the egg, zest, juice, and vanilla.  Scrape sides and bottom of bowl and mix on low to combine.

In a large bowl sift together 3 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt then add to the wet ingredients one cupful at a time. 

Mix until the dough forms a ball on the paddle.  Add a little extra flour if the dough seems sticky. 

Roll out on parchment paper to about 1/4" thickness (if your dough is slightly sticky you will need to dust with flour occasionally . Cut into desired shapes and bake for 7-9 minutes, or until slightly firm and lightly golden on the bottom.  Carefully remove from own and let cool completely on wire rack.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients

4 ounces cream cheese (half a block), chilled

1/4 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups icing sugar

2 to 4 tablespoons strawberry jam

Steps

With paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.

Add 2 1/2 cups of icing sugar, and beat until the sugar is incorporated. The mixture will be thick. 

With the mixer on low speed, add 2 tablespoons of jam and beat until well combined. Add more jam by the tablespoon if necessary to create a smooth texture. The filling, however, should remain thick.

Assembly

Transfer the filling to a pastry bag and pipe filling onto the underside of half the cookies. Top the filling of each with a second cookie.  Chill until the filling is firm.

*Yield will vary depending on thickness and diameter of cutouts.

#83) Little Lemon Pies

"A change is as good as a rest." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

Changes keep life interesting, I get that. But there is too much of a good thing, right?

For the past 13 years, half of my life, I have moved 10 times. That's a lot of change. Each move has been for different reasons - following my family, moving for school, finding new job opportunities. It has been hard in a lot of ways - never really having a home, no permanent address, not to mention actually moving all of my belongings. The past couple of years have been the hardest because I am married now and have a newly purchased home, only I have been living 3 1/2 hours away, separated by a gravel highway (yeah they still exist in some corners of the world).

BUT... that is all over now because I have moved into our new home with husband permanently! No more temporary mailing addresses, no more packing up my life. I am home :)

You know what that means, right? I finally get to enjoy my new kitchen and all its fixins. Expect lots of new sweet treats over the summer, and remember, if you have any requests or suggestions e-mail me at dani@sweettreatsdani.com or find us on facebook :)

What better way to start off summer with some refreshing lemon pie? These two-bite pies are great for your next BBQ with some friends, or your next work social.

Pie Crust

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup butter
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 tbsp cold water

Steps

-In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, lemon zest, and butter until small, coarse crumbs appear. (I used a fork for this, but it would have been easier with a pastry cutter.)
-In small bowl, combine egg yolk and water. Stir into flour mixture.
-Knead pie dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

-Preheat oven to 375F. Spread pie dough into an ungreased mini-muffin pan (makes 24). Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. (They will puff up, don't worry!)
-Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on wire rack.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp butter
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

Steps

-Mix cornstarch and water together in medium saucepan. Add sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly.
-Stir half of hot lemon mixture into slightly beaten eggs. Add egg mixture to saucepan. Bring to gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and cook for 2 minutes.
-Pour into bowl and cover with plastic wrap (touching the surface of the curd) and chill until needed.

-Once pie shells and curd have cooled completely, fill shells with about 1 1/2 tsp of curd each. (There will probably be a little left over, but that shouldn't be a problem... Lick that spoon!!!)

***I used 2 lemons for the zest and juice in this recipe.

#77) Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

After nearly 2 years of blogging (my blog bday is on the 19th), it is sometimes hard to find new sweet treats to share with you guys. It is true, I tend to stick within my comfort zone of chocolate and peanut butter a lot, but every now and then it is really fun to whip up something totally different than my usual flavour combos, and that's why I enjoyed this cake so much!

I have to admit, until this bad boy came out of the oven, I had never even tasted any lemon and poppy seed sweet treats before - but I have been converted! This cake is so light and citrus flavour is so crisp that each bite addictive. And the four-berry curd in the middle - OMG! I was a little unsure while it was still hot, but once it cooled and settled into the cake.... well, let's just say it was a match made in heaven :)

I am going to be MIA again now for a while - July is gonna be a busy month - so with the exception of a couple of possible posts this week, I won't see you much next month. I am away in beautiful Quebec for two weeks, travelling home to Newfoundland for a week, getting married, and heading back to Quebec for the honeymoon... See you in August!!!


Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seed
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup evaporated milk
5 egg whites, room temperature (keep the yolks for the curd)
1/2 tsp sugar

Steps

-Spray 13x9 inch pyrex dish and line with parchment paper (long enough so there are "handles" on each side to lift out cooled cake).

-Preheat oven to 350F.

-In a medium bowl, stir together cake flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.

-In a large bowl, cream sugar, zest, and butter.

-Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture in 4 additions, starting with milk and ending with flour. Beat after each addition.

-In a separate bowl, beat eggs and 1/2 tsp sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into batter.

-Pour batter into prepared dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in dish for 15 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Cut down the middle to form to square cakes.


Four-Berry Curd

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups berries, fresh or thawed
5 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Steps

-Melt butter in large sauce pan.

-Add berries, yolks, and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently and mashing berries. Mixture should thicken. (Mine didn't thicken very much so I ended up with a slightly runny curd, but the flavour was great)

-Once thickened, pour through a large strainer to remove the large pieces of berry. Add lemon juice and let cool to room temperature (should thicken more as it cools).


Assembly

-Pour some curd over top of one square cake. Place second cake on top.

(There will be plenty of curd left over to add to individual servings, as desired)

#76) Cinnamon Cupcakes

Have you missed me? Well, that's not important - what is important is that I have missed you! But I am here with cupcakes in hand hoping you will forgive my long absence, yet again...

Here's the deal, fiance and I are getting married in just 65 days!!! (Yes I am nervous, but everything is falling into place nicely) So to get in shape and shed a few pounds I have hired a trainer and joined a Booty Boot Camp. Let me tell you, this trainer knows her stuff and she makes sure I work hard. But you know what that means, less time to be in the kitchen and super bad guilty conscious for eating all the sweet treats I love so much!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttt - last weekend was the May Long Weekend and I decided it was about time I got back in the kitchen and started playing with some ideas and ingredients.... the guilty conscious went on vacation :)

I started out wanting cinnamon buns, but I have a strange fear of yeast and am quite nervous about using it... I know, this makes no sense and cinnamon buns would be worth it, right? Yeah, I couldn't do it... So I done the next best thing - cupcakes!!! But sticking with the cinnamon bun craving I slapped some cinnamon sugar in the middle and topped them all with a highly addictive lemon cream cheese frosting. You have to try them!!!!!!!!!

Cinnamon Filling

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Steps

- Mix together in small bowl.

Cupcake Batter

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups cake flour (for those of you with AP flour - measure out all your flour, remove 7 tbsp, replace with 7 tbsp cornstarch - def worth the extra effort!)
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup (soy) milk
4 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla

Steps

- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

- Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into large, deep bowl.

- Add the butter and 1/2 cup of the milk. Mix on medium speed until smooth.

- In a separate bowl, blend the eggs, egg whites, the remaining 1/2 cup milk and the vanilla. Add to the batter in 3 additions, mixing for 2 minutes on medium speed after each addition. Scrape down the bowl between additions.

Assembly

- Place 1 1/2 tsp cake batter into the muffin liners.

- Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of filling into the muffin cups.

- Cover with more batter, filling cups about 2/3 full. Use a toothpick to swirl the cinnamon centre.

- Bake at 350°F for 18-20.

- Cool completely.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 8-oz block (light) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
Grated rind of one lemon
1/2 cups icing sugar (this will change depending on moisture content of cream cheese, amount of juice in lemon, etc. - you want a smooth, fluffy consistency, but not pipeable frosting)

Steps

- Beat together all ingredients except icing sugar until combined.

- Add icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time until proper consistency is achieved.

#72) Lovely Lemon Squares

Living alone has its pros and cons, but the severe lack of taste-testers has to be my biggest con.... However, my fiance was here for the weekend and we had some friends over for dinner - the perfect opportunity to try out a brand new recipe! I had never made lemon squares before and was really excited to try and recreate that creamy sweet and tart lemony filling my mom makes from that ever popular blue Shirff box (oh, you know the one!). It was pretty touch and go for a while - is the bottom supposed to be this crumbly? is it supposed to smell like egg? But in the end, once they had cooled, they were perfect! Just as good, or better, than that popular blue box HaHa!

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp icing sugar

Steps

-Preheat oven to 325ºF.

-Beat together butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy.

-Add flour in 2 additions.

-Press into 13X9 pan (I used a glass to pat it in evenly).

-Bake for 35 minutes, until slightly golden. Let cool.

-Beat eggs with sugar until thick. Add lemon rind, juice, flour, and baking powder.

-Pour over baked bottom.

-Bake for 25-30 minutes, just until the centre is set. (The top will have a bubbly white crust, don't worry!)

-Let cool and slice. Dust with icing sugar.

#68) Creamy Cheesecake

You feel neglected, I understand. No, you're right, I haven't been paying enough attention to you. I have been very distant lately.

Well folks, I have been away so long because I have found that living alone means I am responsible for eating anything and everything that is baked in my apartment, and with a wedding coming up that probably isn't a good idea!

However, I braved that Trans-Labrador highway this weekend to spend Thanksgiving with my man :) and we had a great turkey dinner with some friends. You know what that means, right? I had a perfect excuse to make some dessert!!!

So here it is - the creamiest cheesecake you will ever eat. My end result was very creamy, almost too creamy, but I think I know where I went wrong. First of all, I think I should have baked it a little longer than I did. I took it out after a respectable amount of time, but I did not take into consideration that the seal is gone on fiance's oven... Result - an almost runny centre. But, the guests still ate it and really enjoyed it... So much so that the whole 10" cake is gone! But I think the bakeapple sauce helped :)


Ingredients

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

2 (8-ounce) packs cream cheese, softened (I used light)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups sour cream (I used fat free)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350º.

-Mix together first three ingredients. Press into bottom of a greased 10" springform pan and up about 1" along the sides. Let sit in fridge while making the filling.

-Beat cream cheese until smooth.

-Add eggs, one at a time.

-Gradually add sugar.

-Stir in sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla.

-Pour into crust-lined pan.

-Place a dish of water on the bottom rack of the oven to stop your cheesecake from drying out and cracking.

-Bake for 1 hour. The middle should be slightly jiggly.

-Let cool in pan for 30 minutes then move to fridge for several hours, overnight if possible.

-Enjoy!

#38) Lemon Cranberry Muffins

I know the title says "muffins", but I gotta say, these little guys have a more cake-like texture. Thus, they are more of a cupcake than a muffin. But, despite the unintended texture, the taste is great - nice and lemony with a nice bite form the cranberries. Not bad for my first foray into the world of cranberries :)

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
1 cup chopped cranberries
zest of 1 large lemon

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 12-cup muffin tray with paper liners.
-Mix dry ingredients together.
-Beat eggs with milk, lemon juice, and oil. Stir into dry ingredients. Mix just until moistened.
-Add cranberries and zest and fold in.
-Divide batter between lined muffin cups.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes.

#32) Lemon Cheese Coconut Cake

I am having a little get-together tonight with a couple of my girlfriends from university and their men tonight so I decided to go all out and cook up one of the most challenging meals I have done to date - apricot stuffed chicken breasts, sweet and smoky broccoli, and creamy parsnip mashed potatoes. This cute cake will be served as dessert.

Cake

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut
1/3 cup ground almonds
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Steps

- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
- Combine flour, sugar, coconut, ground almonds, and baking powder. Make a well in centre.
- Whisk together buttermilk, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into well.
- Use hand mixer to blend until smooth.
- Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour. Let cool completely. Cut horizontally into two even layers. Set aside.

Lemon Cheese Filling

Ingredients

1 block cream cheese (8 oz)
3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup toasted coconut

Steps

- Beat the four ingredients together until smooth.
- Add half of the mixture to the top of one cake layer. Place second layer on top.
- Spread remaining cheese mixture on sides of cake. Add toasted coconut over cheese mixture.

Icing

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp milk

1 drop green food coloring
1 drop red food coloring

Steps

- Combine icing sugar, butter, and milk. Mixture should be barely pourable.
- Add 1 tbsp of mixture to two bowls (1 tbsp per bowl). Add one drop of food coloring to each bowl (red in one, green in the second).
- Add the remaining white icing to top of cake and spread out evenly.
- Add the colored icings to two small sandwich bags. Snip off a very tiny amount of the corner to make a small piping hole.
- Pipe straight lines across the cake's top.
- Use a toothpick to drag lines in one direction. Repeat in opposite direction.