Bready or Not Original: Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars
These Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars are zippy and fresh, perfect to serve at the holidays and year-round!
I firmly believe good food should be enjoyed whenever. I suppose some people would try to classify these as a Christmassy thing because they are a kind of gingerbread bar. To that, I say NOPE.
I’m rebellious. It’s April. Ginger is an awesome spice. It should be confined to no season. Be free, ginger!
These bars aren’t all about the ginger, though. The spices here are nuanced and delicious, and the lemon plays a pretty big part in the crisp glaze.
Try to make these things at least a day ahead of when they will be served, too, as they taste even BETTER after sitting in the fridge. I say that, but they are pretty awesome while fresh, too.
This is the second entry in my April of lemon recipes. Here’s what else you can look forward to this month!
Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars [you are here]
Cranberry Lemon Biscotti
Cream Cheese Stuffed Lemon Bundt Cake
Lemon Frangipane
Bready or Not Original: Glazed Lemon Ginger Bars
Equipment
- 13x9 pan
Ingredients
Bars
- 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Glaze
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar plus more as needed
- 5 teaspoons lemon juice
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest finely grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13x9 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, ginger, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- Gradually mix dry ingredients into the wet, until just combined. Fold in the dried cranberries.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and even out. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until middle passes toothpick test. Cool completely.
- To make the glaze, in a small bowl melt the butter. Add the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Stir to create a thick, spreadable consistency, adding more sugar if needed to thicken or more lemon juice or water to thin. Spread atop bars. Sprinkle zest over the top. Let glaze set before cutting.
- Store bars sliced, with waxed paper between layers, in sealed container in fridge. Note that these bars taste even better after chilling for a day! They keep well for several days, too.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Cat Tongue Cookies (Langues de Chat)
Cat Tongue Cookies! NO CATS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THESE COOKIES.
I first heard about these cookies on the Great British Bake Off, where they were used as part of another recipe. My curiosity was piqued.
I am trying out a lot more French recipes. This seemed like a good, basic one to try… even though I HATE piping things. Did I say hate? I meant LOATHE.
That said, this recipe wasn’t too awful in that regard. The dough wasn’t a big sticky mess. I used a gallon Ziploc bag and cut the corner off, the old basic method, and that worked just fine.
The end result reminded me a lot of the old American stand-by, Nilla Wafers. Nothing fancy by themselves, but crisp and refreshing. They would be easy to dress up by dipping them in chocolate, Nutella, jam, whatever–if you want.
I thought they were just fine by themselves, with my cats lurking close by–tongues intact.
Bready or Not: Cat Tongue Cookies (Langues de Chat)
Equipment
- parchment paper
- piping bag or gallon Ziploc
Ingredients
- 9 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar plus 2 Tablespoons
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Line a large baking pan with parchment. Use pencil to draw 3-inch lines spaced several inches apart in rows upon the paper, then flip over so the pencil lines still show through as guides.
- In a medium bowl, cream together butter and white sugar (1/2 cup and 2 Tablespoons) until smooth. Beat in egg whites one at a time until batter is light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla followed by flour. Dough might be stiff.
- Put about half of dough into a Ziploc bag (then cut off corner) or a piping bag with a medium star tip. Squeeze out dough onto the lines on parchment.
- Bake for 10 to 11 minutes, until edges are starting to brown. Move to cooling rack. Pipe and bake remaining dough, reusing parchment.
- Store in a sealed container. Good dipped into chocolate or spread with Nutella--or all by itself.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Chocolate Chip Espresso Shortbread
Basic Scottish shortbread is one of the awesomest things in the world. It’s also a blank canvas for variations beyond count. Chocolate chips and a jolt of espresso add extra oomph to this new spin!
Pride O’ Scotland Shortbread was one of the first recipes I considered ‘mine’ as a teenager. It became the one thing I made each year for our family’s Thanksgiving potluck.
Appropriately, it’s also something I made for my husband the very first day I met him when I was 18. (Yes, he was an almost total stranger. Yes, I welcomed him with shortbread. Because that’s what I do.)
I considered the recipe sacrosanct the past two decades… and then I got an idea. Chocolate. Espresso powder. It had to be good, right? Or would it be a crumbly mess?
Yes indeed, it turned out to be delicious. No, it remained as cohesive as ever. Yay!
Espresso powder is fantastic along with chocolate; I include it in most every brownie recipe. The coffee flavor doesn’t come in strong (I actually hate coffee), but it make the chocolate taste bolder and more nuanced.
Bready or Not Original: Chocolate Chip Espresso Shortbread
Equipment
- two basic 9-inch pie plates
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cups white sugar
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened, 2 sticks
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place flour, sugar, espresso powder, and salt in mixing bowl; add butter, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix with fingers until dough holds together, then fold in the mini chocolate chips. Once chips are distributed, divide dough into two balls and press each ball into a pan. Flatten evenly with palms and prick surface all over with floured fork. Slash into wedges.
- Bake for 17 to 22 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven. Immediately cut again following slash marks and carefully run the blade around the edge of the crust to loosen the shortbread.
- Let shortbread cool. Cut again along slash marks and the crust, then remove wedges to eat. Shortbread keeps in sealed container for several days.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Sable Breton (French Shortbread)
Last month I shared my recipe for Almond Sable. This time I present another French (from Brittany, to be specific) take on shortbread: Sable Breton!
These cookies are much more straightforward than the previous recipe. The ingredients are shortbread basics: butter, sugar, flour.
What sets this apart is, foremost, that it is not as sweet as its counterparts across the channel.
I also recommend that you use a kitchen scale to get that European-style precision–along with actual French butter. President-brand is expensive but widely available, even where I am in Arizona.
These cookies are downright pretty, too, with a crosshatched pattern and an egg yolk wash. They are perfect alongside a cup of coffee or tea!
Modified from the original at Mon Petit Four.
Bready or Not: Sable Breton (French Shortbread)
Equipment
- parchment paper
- small cookie cutter
- food scale
Ingredients
- 200 grams salted butter 1/2 cup plus 5 Tablespoons, President butter recommended
- 120 grams white sugar 1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon
- 3 egg yolks divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 280 grams all-purpose flour 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons, plus more if needed to dust work surface
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone mat.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add two egg yolks and vanilla extract. Add flour until just incorporated.
- Lightly flour work surface and hands. Using rolling pin or hands, press dough to about 1/4-inch thickness.
- Use a small round cookie cutter on dough. Transfer rounds to cookie sheet, spaced out a bit. Use a fork to scratch a crosshatch pattern in the top, like a hashtag with more lines.
- Beat remaining egg yolk in a small bowl. Brush tops of cookies with yolk.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until cookies are a consistent golden color. Transfer to a rack to completely cool.
- Store in a sealed container.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Ultimate Chocolate Cookies
Ultimate Chocolate Cookies! Say that in a gravelly announcer-guy voice. ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE COOKIES!
These are loaded with chocolate–melted into the dough and with bonus chocolate chips, too! Oh yeah, and cocoa!
The addition of espresso powder (or instant coffee) amps up that chocolate flavor, too. If you don’t keep that around for your cookies and brownies, it’s a good habit to start.
I mean, amping up chocolate flavor is DEFINITELY a good thing.
You might even say it makes things… ultimate.
Modified from AllRecipes Magazine February/March 2015.
Bready or Not: Ultimate Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 1 bag, divided
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder Dutch process or regular unsweetened, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder or instant-coffee granules
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- On the stove top or in a microwave, melt 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, warming until smooth. Set aside to cool.
- In another bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
- In a big bowl, beat together the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, scraping bowl to make sure everything is combined. Follow up with espresso powder and vanilla, then the melted chocolate. Stir in flour mixture. Fold in the remaining chocolate chips.
- Cover mixing bowl and let dough stand for about 30 minutes so that the chocolate can set.
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Use a teaspoon scoop to place dough spaced out on parchment-covered cookie sheet or seasoned stoneware.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let set on stove about 10 minutes before moving cookies to a rack to completely cool.
- Store in sealed containers at room temperature. Cookies may crisp up more after 1 day, but keep quite well.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Almond Sable Cookies
Let’s welcome 2020 in grand style: with French shortbread called almond sables!
I’ve made a lot of shortbread in my day. All varieties. This is shortbread that’s gone up in level. It tastes fancy. It’s a French recipe, so that’s only appropriate, right?
I highly recommend you use President-brand unsalted butter for this recipe. My recipe is actually modified from a version they used in advertisements. However, you can use other butters, just make sure you use unsalted and only 7 ounces. That means you’ll chop off a tablespoon from the standard American butter stick.
I made these cookies twice to get the recipe the way I wanted it. I used salted butter the first time, and the cookies tasted noticeably salty. Not just to me, but to other eaters as well.
Because these cookies have such few ingredients, the few that are present really have a chance to shine. They are buttery, mildly nutty, with a soft, sandy texture.
I liked using my fluted cookie cutters for these–that way the sugar coating has more nooks and crannies to cling to!
Recipe modified from a President butter advertisement.
Bready or Not: Almond Sable Cookies
Equipment
- small cookie cutter
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 7- ounces President unsalted butter softened, or substitute other unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup white sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 vanilla bean or substitute 1 Tablespoon vanilla bean paste or 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk
Instructions
- Toast the almonds prior to beginning cookies. Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Spread almonds in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast for about 10 minutes, until fragrant. Set aside to cool for a few minutes; turn off oven.
- Measure out flour in a small bowl.
- Use a food processor to grind almonds to a fine crumb; don't process for too long or it'll turn to almond butter. Mix almond crumbs with flour.
- In a big bowl, beat butter until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, and salt, until smooth again. Add vanilla bean (or equivalent) and egg yolk. Gradually work in flour mixture. Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead 3 or 4 times to form a cohesive ball.
- Place dough between two large sheets of parchment paper and compress dough to about 1/2-inch thickness. Enshroud in plastic wrap. Transfer to fridge to set, at least 2 hours but as long as 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Line large baking sheet with fresh parchment paper.
- Roll out dough to closer to 1/4-inch thickness, then set aside top parchment sheet. Use a small round cookie cutter to cut dough, placing rounds spaced-out on sheet pan. Re-roll dough scraps to use up the rest, adding a touch of water, if necessary, to bring dough together again.
- Bake until edges are just turning golden, about 15 to 20 minutes. Measure out remaining 1/2 cup white sugar in a bowl. Use a spatula to dip warm cookies into sugar to coat top and sides. Place on rack to cool cookies completely.
- Cookies keep well in sealed container for up to 3 days.