Lemon Bars
The lemon bars are made from scratch, contain lots of real lemon parts, and are actually fairly complicated. Like anything else that Ina makes, if it is a lot of work, it is really good and worth the effort. (She doesn't waste her time on mediocre recipes.)
The crust of the lemon bars is my favorite part - so buttery and thick. The lemon filling is easy once you get all the pieces assembled: eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, flour, and sugar. But juicing and zesting a bunch of lemons can be a lot of work.
Nonetheless, the lemon filling always sets up well, and it is so naturally lemony and delicious. I think I cut the pieces a little large for the party - sorry, I forgot to take pictures in the hubub - but they were gobbled up just the same.
The sand cookies are cinnamon cookies that are really soft and easy to make. I call them sand cookies because my old coworkers loved their "sand-like" texture, and I thought the phrase captured them well. I've made them dozens of times before, so I practically have the recipe memorized and it almost never comes our poorly. And they are so dramatic:
I have to say, they are my favorite cookies ever. They were a hit with guests, as they always are.
Other party stuff
Incidentally, I also made a bunch of fruit trays, veggie trays, deviled eggs, and lots of guacamole. The guac was easy - I always use the simple recipe I got from Better Homes & Gardens.
The eggs were tougher, because there were so many of them (for an expected 70 people), and I have trouble boiling eggs at the best of times. So I got 36 eggs, which is a lot:
As much as I love cooking, and as good as I am with a lot of it, it is somewhat embarrassing to admit that I have a lot of trouble boiling eggs. I always have to look at instructions like these and follow them exactly, because honestly I just don't do it enough to really remember it well. (But at least I'm not the only one with this problem.)
I got the deviled egg recipe from my mom, and I modified it a bit. To make the filling, I use the egg yolks, mayo, yellow mustard, Dijon or brown mustard, mustard powder, pepper, and paprika (both in the filling and sprinkled on top). Sorry I didn't get any pictures before they were devoured yesterday; they were pretty.
So it was a really fun party, and hopefully my homemade food added a fun touch. I certainly had fun making it!
1 comment:
These are basically all of my all-time favorite desserts. That's really all I have to say about that.
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