Lemon Squares (Cook's Companion) by Barbara

A buttery shortbread crust with a layer of bright lemon curd

On the facing page of the cookbook with the Hazelnut Squares ,which I just posted, were these Lemon Squares.  Tom loves lemon squares, so I thought I'd try them too.  

Very glad I did.  I like this recipe even better than the ones I've used in the past.  Easy to make once I calculated the conversions of ingredients and British terms.

We will definitely make these again.  

---Barbara

Lemon Squares

(adapted from Cook's Companion by Carole Clements)

Makes a 9x13" pan

2 cups less 2T. (225g) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (55g) powdered sugar

1/4 t. salt

12 T. (1 1/4 cup) unsalted cold butter, cut into tiny pieces

1 T. ice water

4 eggs, room temperature

2 cups regular white sugar ( or 1 1b. caster sugar if you can find it)

3 T. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. grated lemon rind

2 fluid ounces fresh lemon juice (about 1.5 lemons squeezed)

powdered sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, powdered sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.

Rub the butter into the flour or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Add the ice cold water, and bring the mixture together into a ball, using your hands.

Cover and refrigerate for 15 - 30 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate.

Pat the mixture evenly into a 9x13" pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until very light brown around the edges.

Remove the crust from the oven, and let it cool slightly.

Meanwhile, beat all the other ingredients ---the 4 eggs, 2 cups regular sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and lemon juice--- together on high for several minutes until very smooth and frothy.  Be sure the sugar is well integrated into the batter.  Otherwise, the lemon layer will be grainy.  

Pour the lemon curd layer on top.

Return to the oven (remember to use hot pads!) and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

The top of mine developed a slightly brown crust.  

Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Dust with powdered sugar.

Cut squares using a very sharp knife and lift them out using a small metal spatula.

To store, cover and refrigerate due to the eggs.

Excellent when served cold, too.

---B

Hazelnut Squares (Cook's Companion) by Barbara

 

Americans would call this a hazelnut brownie

If you are a hazelnut lover, then you'll love this recipe. The squares are loaded with toasted hazelnuts and then even more nuts are added on top.  The base is like a chocolate brownie.   

I found the recipe in a British cookbook then converted the measurements.  It was listed under biscuits, their term for cookies.  

The cookbook is one I found at a book sale years ago and still use quite a bit.  It's called Cook's Companion by Carole Clements, 1999, published by Hermes House.  My edition is 2001.  

Tweaked her recipe quite a bit so I decided to write my version up for future use.   

Next time I use this recipe, I'll probably substitute pecans. Hazelnuts are hard to come by, very expensive, and hard to skin.  

---Barbara

Hazelnut Squares

(adapted from Cook's Companion by Carole Clements )

Makes 9 large squares

1 cup (4 ounces) hazelnuts, skinned, toasted and roughly chopped 

Note:  I had a 6.5 ounce tub of hazelnuts, and used them all, which made them extra nutty but I'd suggest you dial the quantity back to closer to 4 ounces.  

1/3 cup unsalted butter

pinch of salt

1/2 cup good quality chocolate chips

2 eggs, room temperature

1 cup super fine sugar (caster sugar)

1/2 t. vanilla bean paste (or regular vanilla)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

Skin, toast and chop the hazelnut ahead of time, and let them cool completely.  

Reserve 1/4 cup for sprinkling on the top, midway through baking.  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter an 8x8" pan well.  (Do not use PAM or baking spray.)

Get everything out and organized before starting:

Put the dry ingredients including 3/4 cup of the nuts in one bowl...

Eggs and vanilla in a small bowl, whisked together...

And butter and chocolate chips with a pinch of salt in a microwave safe bowl, like a large Pyrex measuring cup.  

First melt the butter and chocolate carefully.  Use the defrost mode on your microwave, and cook until you see the butter and chocolate just melt.  About 1 minute, depending on your microwave strength.  If you don't use the defrost mode, it may only take 20 seconds.  Watch carefully.  

Pull it out and whisk together.

Pour the chocolate butter into a large mixing bowl.  This will help it cool off. 

Carefully and slowly add the whisked eggs and vanilla.  A little at a time.  Whisk until very smooth.  

Slowly add the dry ingredients with a spatula or wooden spoon.

Then,  mix vigorously for 100 stirs. Count as you go.  I learned this from making brownies a lot over the years.  It will make the crust shiny and crackly. And the inside will be soft and gooey.

Pour into the prepared pan.  Shake to evenly distribute the batter into the corners.  

Bake for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle the remaining nuts on top.  Press very gently to get them to adher to the batter.   

Return to the oven and bake for another 25 minutes.  In total 35 minutes.

Cool completely.

Run a knive around the edge to loosen the edges.  Lift the entire square out of the pan and on to a cutting board with a large spatula.

Cut into squares.  

After sampling, we froze the rest to pull out two at a time to reheat in the toaster oven to serve with coffee.

B

Banana Bread Muffins (Updated) by Barbara

Just baked a batch of these banana bread muffins and updated the recipe. It’s become one of my “go to” recipes. I always seem to have ripe bananas that need to be used. Muffins are more convenient than baking a banana bread in a loaf pan. We can pull two at a time out of the freezer to have with coffee in the morning. 

 —— Barbara

Click link to go to the recipe. 

https://feasteveryday.blogspot.com/2022/07/banana-bread-muffins.html

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Our 15th Year of Feast Everyday! by Barbara

No Time to Spare

Fifteen years ago today I started Feast Everyday.  

Blogging was a brand new thing back then. It was long before Instagram and Facebook became a ubiquitous means of communication.   Now millions of recipes are available at our fingertips, as long as we have access to the Internet.  And millions of people provide a constant flow of content about their lives, what they are doing, what they are thinking... and what they are cooking.  

So why keep Feast Everyday going?  

Especially when the blogging platform it's on is obsolete.  Google discontinued supporting Blogger years ago. They even turned off the email feature, I think it was an effort to make us move elsewhere. 😏

The answer is simple.  We use it.  

Tom cooks from his "go-to" recipes all the time.

I like to be able to look up ingredients for a recipe while I am out shopping, once I see what looks good at the grocery store.  

Plus, I still enjoy creating and experimenting in the kitchen.  And this is where I like to share what I learn.

Nowadays Tom and I usually post things we want to remember.  So, that we can recreate the outcome we had.  

In addition, we update the history of recipes we've already posted as we use them.  

So, even though it's a royal pain in the neck...and time consuming to do, I keep Feast Everyday going year after year.

We now have almost 1000 posts of recipes and tips.  

Going forward, for the 15th anniversary, I've decided I am going to repost our oldies but goodies, mixed in with some old-fashioned blogging about food adventures.

Today, for the 15th, I made soft boiled eggs in honor of write Ursula K. Le Guin.  

I bought her book back in 2017 entitled "No Time to Spare, Thinking About What Matters."  It's a collection of her online writing.  She started a blog in 2010 and continued until her death in 2018 at age 88.  She is very witty, very opinionated, and writes on all manner of topics, including aging. 

One blog post in the book that has stuck with me is her July 2011 post called "Without Egg."

As only the great writer that she is can do, she describes her love of eating a soft-boiled egg in a way that is unforgettable.  I reread the Without Egg passages this morning. 

"You see what I mean about difficulty.  Eating an egg from the shell takes not only practice but resolution, even courage, possibly willingness to commit crime."  She then goes on to talk about how to properly whack the egg. Later, she concludes "The soft-boiled egg experience is the same every morning and never the same.  It remains endlessly interesting.  It is invariably delicious.  It delivers a small, solid dose of high-quality protein.  Who could ask for more?"--Ursula K. LeGuin

I made soft-boiled eggs.  It wasn't easy.  I made a mess.  But it was fun.

And that's what I think this blog, Feast Everday, is all about.

---Barbara

P.S.  Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) is the author of 24 books of fiction and 11 books of poetry.  She is best known for her science fiction writing, a pioneer in the category, since the early 1960's.