Cheaterpants Lemon Bars

I've fallen off the "remembering to take pictures of the things I make" wagon.  Bear with me until my brain starts to function again.  I blame it on soccer practice and the lack of consecutive warm days.

Anyhow... Lemon bars!

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I love me some lemon bars.  Sadly, my husband has become a chocolate fiend and he never ever wants me to make any other dessert other than those that contain chocolate.

This time I didn't ask him what I should make to his family's Easter gathering.  I just made an executive decision. 

Lemon has always seemed like a spring-like Easter-ish type dessert to me.

These bars, from Belle of the Kitchen, are super quick to whip up because they use lemon cake mix for the base and crumble on top.  The middle is a cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice concoction.

A funny side story about the cream cheese.  I learned, over Easter, that my father-in-law does NOT like cream cheese.  My Sister-in-law had made the most amazing fruit pizza that had a strawberry cream cheese spread over a sugar cookie crust.  I'm drooling just thinking about it.  My Father-in-law wouldn't touch it because he was told it contained cream cheese.

We all decided NOT to tell him what the bars were made of.  He ate some and liked it!  I wonder what he thought the white stuff in the middle was!  Hehehehe!

Another nice thing about these bars is that they are not overly lemony.  The sour from the lemon is balanced nicely with the sweet from the filling and crust.  If you wanted to amp up the tart lemon flavor, I think adding some lemon zest to the filling would do the trick nicely.

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Maybe my cake mix was a little bit less in volume than the brand that they used over at Belle of the Kitchen because it was difficult to get the base to spread out over the bottom of the pan.  I had to "borrow" a little bit from the topping.  This made the topping a little scant and not as visually appealing as I would have liked.  If this is the case for you, I would suggest adding a 1/4 c of quick cooking oats to the topping to make it stretch.

Super Easy Cheater Lemon Bars from Belle of the Kitchen
1 (18.25 oz) package lemon cake mix
1 egg
1/2 c veg oil
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
2/3 c sugar
3 T lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 F. Pour cake mix into lg bowl. Add egg and oil; mix til well blended. Mixture will be slightly dry. Reserve about 3/4 c for topping, and pat rest into 9x13" pan. Bake 15 min in preheated oven. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, in a med bowl, beat softened cream cheese with sugar and lemon juice til smooth. Spread evenly over baked crust. Crumble reserved cake mix mixture over top. Bake an additional 15 min in preheated oven, or til filling is set and topping is lightly toasted. Cool before cutting into bars. Refrigerate leftovers.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Feast your eyes on that baby. That little masterpiece, my friends, is Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream from Ezra Pound Cake. Aw yeah.

Not bad for my second attempt at ice cream.

This ice cream tastes exactly like what it says it is. Strawberry cheesecake, in ice cream goodness. Have mercy.

This ice cream takes a tinsy bit more work than your average ice cream as you have to bake a graham cracker crust, and let it get cold in the fridge.  It's worth it though.  Trust me.  That crust is half the cheesecake party in your mouth.

This recipe calls for the zest of one lemon and 1/2 c frozen berries.  I omitted both of them.  I didn't have a lemon and Mrblocko and I aren't big fans of huge chunks of fruit in our ice cream.  The next time I make this I'm going to add the lemon zest to see if it adds anything special to the mix.  As for the fruit, I think if I put frozen berries into a blender to chop them up, that might be ok.  Although, then I'd have to worry about seeds.  I don't want no stinkin' seeds in my ice cream.  Maybe a chunkier seedless jam verses a jelly would be a better route to take.

In case anyone is wondering, I used full fat versions of both cream cheese and sour cream.  I was worried if I altered the fat content, the ice cream might not set up properly.  Next time I think I'll risk a low fat version.

It's such a shame that I've got to do some more experimenting with this recipe.  Oh the things we do in the name of food.

Mixed Berry Cheesecake Ice Cream from Ezra Pound Cake Makes about 3 cups
Graham Cracker Crumble:
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 5 crackers)
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Ice Cream:
Zest of 1 lemon
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup half-and-half
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup red jelly (strawberry, raspberry or currant), warmed in the microwave until melted
1/2 cup frozen berries

For the Ice Cream: Place lemon zest in a food processor .Cut cream cheese into small pieces, and add it to lemon zest. Then add sour cream, half-and-half, sugar and salt. Blend til smooth.
Transfer mix to a bowl, cover it, and chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

For the Graham Cracker Crumble: Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter til moistened. Transfer to a 9" springform pan, pie plate or cake pan. Press crumbs into bottom of pan. (Don’t worry if they don’t cover the entire bottom of the pan.) Bake 7 min. Cool to room temperature. Using a fork, gently break crust into small crumbs. Set aside.

Once the ice cream mix chilled for at least 4 hours, freeze in ice cream maker according to  manufacturer’s instructions. During last few minutes of churning, add 1/4 c Graham Cracker Crumble.
As transfer ice cream from machine to a freezer-safe container, place half of ice cream into  container. Sprinkle half of frozen berries onto ice cream, followed by a few spoonfuls of melted jelly to create a thin layer over the ice cream. (Do not stir.) Then spoon rest of ice cream over jelly. Sprinkle  remaining berries on top and a few spoonfuls of Graham Cracker Crumble. Place a layer of plastic wrap over ice cream, fasten a lid on container, and place container in freezer for at least 4 hours before serving.

To serve, top ice cream with any remaining Graham Cracker Crumble. Or, make a topping for the ice cream by warming leftover jelly in microwave and tossing remaining berries in jelly til well mixed.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

I found this recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake while surfing around on the craftster message boards. Sopapillas (or Sopaipillas) are a kind of fried pastry dough often sweetened with honey.

As far as desserts go, you can't get much easier than this. This recipe makes the apple dumplings I made last month look more complicated than something you'd find in a fancy French Cookbook, written in French...and you don't know any French.
Be very careful when making this, you may have to put a lock on your fridge so you don't eat the whole thing in one sitting. You have been warned!!!

Sopapilla Cheesecake
two 8 oz containers of Cream Cheese,Softened
1 c sugar
1 T vanilla
2 cans Crescent Rolls
1 stick butter, melted
at least 2 T sugar mixed with 1/4 t cinnamon (I used cinnamon sugar with orange zest, I just sprinkled it on until I thought it was covered enough)

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with a mixer. Unroll and press 1 can of crescent roll dough in bottom of 9x9" baking dish. (I used a 8x8" pan and it worked out just fine.) Some of the crescents will overlap and that's ok. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the top. Arrange second can of crescent roll dough on top of mixture to cover cream cheese. Pour melted butter on top of crescent rolls. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over all. Bake at 350F for 35 min. Let the dessert cool and once it reaches room temp, let it chill in the fridge for a few hours before slicing and serving.