Get in Formation: Lemon Squares

For the recipe only, click here.

It is safe to say that very few moments in life leave me standing, staring mouth agape. I have been fortunate enough to have a few such moments in the last weeks; where talented women have been the subject of my awe.

Let’s cut straight to it and talk about her.

Beyonce.

The Formation World Tour was my first time as audience to Queen Bey and her cast of incredible women talent. It was my first time standing for hours, holding on to every single moment of vocal acrobatics, strategic wind, crystal-encrusted glam, and synchronized strutting, that only Beyonce can provide. As one of the adoring peasants in the crowd, I was mostly impressed by the details of the show itself, including, but by no means limited to, the magical cubic visual element that served as her only stage adornment, her inclusion of dancers of all shades, and the casual professionalism with which she interacted with the crowd. It was honestly just impressive. I left affirmed that she loves her craft and those who appreciate it. It was well worth the coins spent.

This theme of lemonade– taking something unpalatable and creating sweetness and relief– was appropriately invoked by Beyonce throughout the visual album as well as the show. I couldn’t help but examine how we use lemon to enhance the mundane, but also how lemons themselves often need sugar to be enjoyed. Lemon water is offered to spruce up the most pure beverage. After all, what’s life without the occasional puckering of experience? Lemon water becomes lemonade with the addition of everyone’s favorite drug, and suddenly it is summer and life is good.

Formation was full of the vengeful, red, independent-womanness we would expect from any good Beyonce montage. However, the water– that essential element without which lemonade does not materialize– was the real star. Water was the reminder of what connects us, what allows us to be alive and stripped, the surprise element that brought together the whole shebang.

The show was basically some kick-butt art, enjoyed with thousands of my closest Bey-friends. If you have the chance to experience leg two, reward yourself.

In the process of gathering things for my new home in the fall, I have been looking for my first real art pieces to display. The click-hole that is the Instagram suggested follow list has led me to some really great (and some really not-so-great) art. Thus far, I have landed on a few pieces that I look forward to hanging in a few weeks.
My affinity for representing the strength and connectedness of women has unintentionally seeped through to my art selection. In form, talent, and purpose, women are as varied as the world’s hues. However, we are still bonded in a sort of mystery and unpredictability.

Fragmented. Textured. Colorful. Bold.

Much like the Queen, I’ve been captured by the artists themselves. Their ability to tell histories and convey emotions in a single image. Like a perfectly baked treat: made for everyone and just for me at the same time.

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The status of women is so important in our society, we have designated a medical speciality devoted to promoting and preserving the health of women, the babies they produce, and the families they support. More often than not, we fail our women (yes, even and perhaps especially, in medicine). We make their conditions acidic and cheap. However, we can not escape the essentiality of women’s success in the fabric of our lives. The ways in which women are able to take the pieces, tell stories, and create completeness; adding just enough sweetness to any situation as to not erase the sour that is the truth.

 

Lemon Squares

• Servings: 12 bars
• Time: 2 hours
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Ingredients:

For crust

• 2 cups flour, sifted
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter

For filling

• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. For the crust, mix the flour, sugar, and butter with your hands until it clings together.
2. Press into a 13×9 inch pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
4. For the filling, beat together eggs, sugar, and lemon juice.
5. In another bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.
6. Stir into egg mixture.
7. Pour over baked, cooled crust.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
9. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
10. Cut into bars, and enjoy!

Art by @reallyjsmn (silhouette), @bennybing (Sade) and @esosaparfait (not pictured).

Lemon Squares

For the full blog post, click here.

• Servings: 12 bars
• Time: 2 hours
• Print

Ingredients:

For crust

• 2 cups flour, sifted
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter

For filling

• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. For the crust, mix the flour, sugar, and butter with your hands until it clings together.
2. Press into a 13×9 inch pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
4. For the filling, beat together eggs, sugar, and lemon juice.
5. In another bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.
6. Stir into egg mixture.
7. Pour over baked, cooled crust.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
9. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
10. Cut into bars, and enjoy!

Summer Mixed Berry Pie

For the full blog post, click here.

I used the extra dough portion from a cream pie I previously made. Normally when you make pie dough, you make two portions– one for the bottom, one for the lattice on top. For topless pies, you can freeze the second half for later use!

Waste not, want not.

 

This post is a part of the monthly link-up party, Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted by Susan and Mike at Simply Sundays. 

• Servings: One 9-inch pie
• Time: 1 hour 45 mins
• Print

Ingredients:

• 1 pie crust (for a good homemade one, try this)
• 5-6 cups fresh mixed berries
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 + 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cups cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Roll out the dough to a large circle and place in an un-greased, 9-inch pie pan. Freeze for 30 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, toss the berries with zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon, making sure the berries are well coated and the cornstarch disappears.
3. Place berry mixture in a colander and let excess fluid drain.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
5. Fill the pie crust with the berry mixture, piling high in the center. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 50-60 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.
6. Let pie cool for at least 2-3 hours before serving.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

For full blog post, click here.

• Servings: 8 cream pies
• Time: 30 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups old fashioned oatmeal

For the cream:

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp half and half

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until fully combined
3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add in oatmeal.
4. Drop about 3 tablespoons of cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Allow cookies to sit on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to completely cool. While cookies are cooling, make cream filling.
5. In bowl, beat butter on medium-high until extra fluffy.
6. Turn speed to low and slowly add powdered sugar. Add in vanilla and milk, and mix until fully combined. Turn mixer back to medium-high and beat until fluffed.
7. Pipe cream on the flat side of one cookie, then place another on top. Repeat for remaining cookies.
8. Devour like a cookie monster!

Recipe slightly adapted from My Baking Addiction

 

 

I Rise: Sweet Cinnamon Rolls

For the recipe only, click here.

We are fast-approaching what I think is the sweetest, most tooth-rotting morning of the year: Easter Sunday. Bunnies and eggs and marshmallows– oh my! But not before fluffy pancakes and chocolaty muffins as the official breakfast meal. Easter breakfast was always a flash of pastels and syrups; a speedy, yet savored event where cinnamon rolls and croissants held as much weight as the wrapped and nested malted treats awaiting.

That anticipation. That wanting. So much like the anticipation of new stages in life. Eager to get there so the rewards can be enjoyed. So many of us know the struggle of applying and researching and hoping and wishing and interviewing and brainstorming… Failure, mishaps, and missed deadlines happen. They really do. But just because they happen doesn’t make your process any less noble or worthy. Consider the last thing you wanted and applied for that you did not get. Do you honestly think you were undeserving of such achievements because someone else happened to not select you?

Flash back to the kitchen table: a dozen hard-boiled eggs ready to don your artistic spirit and demonstrate decorating dominance. No way your brother’s eggs will look better than yours this year. Not a chance. Belly full of sweets, and mind full of ideas, you consider which swirly wax pattern will make your eggs stand out and which colors will pop. Decorations proceed as expected. Your fingers are all different colors, and a couple of egg shells have cracked, but no worries.

Just because you dropped your beautiful egg masterpiece into the cup of orange dye when you meant to only slightly submerge doesn’t mean you weren’t a bona fide boiled egg wizard! No! You pressed on, inked up fingers and all.

When making these cinnamon rolls, I can’t help but be reminded of these familiar feelings of impatience and failure. In short, yeast means the dough has to rise. It takes time. Waiting is hard for me when temptingly-delicious cinnamon and sugar are involved *insert exasperated emoji face*. Why haven’t these things risen like I thought? Why is my roll uneven on the edges?! Gahhh!

As frustrating as it is for me to wait for responses and as unsatisfying as it is to receive rejections, there is a deeply-held self-confidence required when pursuing academia. In a few months I will be graduated. What happens after that, I have no idea. The thought is terrifying and worrisome, but also exciting. If given a choice, I would know exactly what life will look like post-spring. However, here I am: unsure and with limited control.  Regardless, I have to appreciate the small victories– reminding myself that failures are really just ugly successes.

These rolls do that for me. Even though my plans to drink water and eat eggs for breakfast like a good girl melted away into sticky oblivion, I’m still eating breakfast! And that is a win.

Sweet Cinnamon Rolls

• Servings: 12
• Time: 45 minutes
• Print

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 5 1/3 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups flour

For the filling:

• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp cinnamon
• 5 1/3 Tbsp butter

For the icing:

• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon sugar

Directions:

1. Dissolve the yeast in warm milk in a large bowl.
2. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs and flour to a medium bowl and mix well.
3. Pour the milk/yeast mixture in the bowl and, using a dough hook, mix well.
4. Place dough into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
5. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, until it is approximately 16 inches long and 12 inches wide (1/4 inch thick).
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
7. To make the filling, spread the butter on the dough and sprinkle evenly with brown sugar and cinnamon.
8. Carefully roll the dough down to the bottom edge from the long edge. Cut the roll into 12 even pieces.
9. Place the cut rolls in the prepared pan. Cover with a damp towel and let rise from other 30 minutes or until they double in size.
10. Bake for  25 minutes or until light golden brown.
11. While the rolls are baking make icing: mix all ingredients together and beat with a mixer until fluffy.
12. Spread over finished rolls, and get sticky!

Recipe slightly adapted from Jo Cooks

St Patrick’s Day: Lucky Vanilla Cupcakes

For the recipe only, click here.

At times, I envy those who have it all figured out.

I wish I had goo-gobs of disposable income from a cushy corporate gig, just laying around, waiting to be spent on stuff; nights free of essays and literature reviews; weekends unburdened by data collection… but, alas, I am a student– the very opposite of possessing income or having untaxed free time. Today, for once, I wish I had the luck of the Irish, or at least a pot of gold to dance around.

Despite my student woes (insert: loans and books, and no real job, etc.), the greenness of St. Patrick’s Day is not really one of envy as much as it is an appreciation of what money cannot buy.

I made these cupcakes to bring to one of the countless and boundless meetings I have today. Some thoughtful (and no doubt, hungry) soul decided we should all bring in something green to munch while we talk strategic health program planning. So, of course, while everyone is deciding which flavor of green juice or kale chip they will be offering, I was salivating at the thought of eating my favorite go-to sweet.

The cupcake is so complete: cake, frosting, handheld, cuteness, yours, just enough, no utensils required, no pretension.

What else in our lives are just this perfect? Unmet expectations and inconveniences are everywhere. But really, when you consider even the most perfect things, they have their messes. Intricately decorated cupcakes for fancy events get devoured the same way as the slapped-together ones you bring to an elementary school class birthday party. Liberally-iced cupcakes (and, let’s admit, these are the best kind) will find their way on even careful eaters’ faces. The reason you don’t eat the entire batch is because, well, calories.

So much of the perfect parts of life are over shadowed by minor grievances that distract us from the realities of how great they really are. Even though my life has yet to settle into some post-undergrad routine of money-making and happy-houring, I honestly wouldn’t want it any other way. Graduate school can feel like little more than extended undergraduate frugality and inconsistency, but I could not pass up the chance for continued learning.

In the spirit of green– meant to represent life and faith on this day– I acknowledge that maybe in having nothing at all figured out, I might have it all figured out. The books will get read, the papers will be written, and the post-grad prospects will fall into place. For now, I will delight over these cupcakes, and revel in the sweetness that is my life.

Three cheers to the ones that don’t have it all figured out! May your rainbow lead to some form of treasure, and may luck be on your side.

Lucky Vanilla Cupcakes

• Servings: 18
• Time: 40 mins
• Print

Ingredients: 

• 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup salted butter
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp vanilla
• food coloring

For the icing:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk together flour and baking powder.
3. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.
4. Beat together eggs and vanilla and add to sugar mixture
5. Mix food coloring and milk.
6. Alternately add flour mix and milk until combined. Batter will be thick and creamy–be careful not to over-mix.
7. Pour into prepared cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes.
8. Let cool
9. Meanwhile, make buttercream icing:
   1. Beat butter until fluffy.
   2. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
   3. Mix milk, vanilla, and food coloring
   4. Add to butter and sugar.
10. Decorate and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Cake Whiz & Wine & Glue

Pi Day: Brown Sugar Cream Pie

For the recipe only, click here.

That’s right, it’s Pi Day! You know, 3.1415926blahblahblah…

I’m having flashbacks to elementary school pi days when children clamored to one-up each other in digit recitation, hyped up on sweet goodness: a nerd utopia. I can imagine that teachers would look for any excuse to throw a party in class, let the kids relax a little, and convince themselves it is all for the sake of mathematics. Well, dearest teachers, whatever the motivation, I thank you for allowing us to go wild and feel important because we memorized a few digits with no pattern. Oh yeah, and thanks for the pie!

I never nudged my way into peer pi dominance. 3.1415canijusteatsomepiepleaseandthankyou My eyes were on the real prize.

At some point wedged between math problems and only-somewhat-funny pi jokes, the teacher would whip out some baked treat and ask: “would anybody like a slice?” With veiled politeness I would, “yes please!” when deep-down I was all, “gimme dat!”

What is “pi” anyway?

Pi is a mathematical constant, an irrational number, a series of digits that seemingly have no pattern– true statistical randomness. For children, pi is a fun thing to know. It makes March 14th special somehow. Another reason to celebrate existence.

For me, pi is a reminder of everything I do not know.

So often as students we mistakenly focus on the rightness and knowing of our area of interest or where we are going with our work. We have ideas and thoughts that we want to do something with, opinions that are strong and ever-forming, confidence that what we have to say is just that much more prolific or worthy than our peers (read as: competition). To a degree, this is required to succeed beyond elementary school.

But what about that dreaded grey area? You know, that place where you are unsure of how to link two disparate ideas, struggling with how to enact your research in practice, placing  your fate in the hands of an admissions committee, or mulling over how you could have studied more effectively (or even studied at all). This grey place is often much larger than we would like to admit. Because, honestly, who wants to struggle?

Struggle and learning go hand-in-hand. After all, to know about pi, one must have been in a classroom or at least learning about math. And math is, well, a struggle. Pies– pie crusts in particular– have the potential to be difficult as well. Is my butter cold enough? Will the crust spilt? Why do the pretty edges keep breaking when I try to slice like a pro?! The frustration!

When you take the first bite of pie, the preparation anxiety melts away and you can’t imagine how you ever stressed over something so perfectly imperfect. Today, I will remind myself to carry this into my graduate work: while the process may leave me floured and somewhat uncertain, the result is sure to be exactly what it is meant to be– and sweet.

Brown Sugar Cream Pie

• Servings: 8
• Time: 45 mins
• Print

Ingredients: 

• 1 pie crust
• 4 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar

For the topping:

• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and granulated sugar
3. In a medium pot, cream together sugar mixture, melted butter, heavy cream, half and half, and brown sugar over medium heat until thick and creamy, stirring constantly.
4. Add in vanilla.
5. Pour mixture into prepared pie crust, pour melted butter over top, and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Broil for 1 minute.
8. Bring pie to room temperature, the refrigerate for 1 hour to set.
9. Enjoy!
10. Store in fridge

Recipe adapted from The Domestic Rebel

Brown Sugar Cream Pie

For full blog post, click here.

• Servings: 8
• Time: 45 mins
• Print

Ingredients: 

• 1 pie crust (for a good from-scratch recipe, try this)
• 4 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar

For the topping:

• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and granulated sugar
3. In a medium pot, cream together sugar mixture, melted butter, heavy cream, half and half, and brown sugar over medium heat until thick and creamy, stirring constantly.
4. Add in vanilla.
5. Pour mixture into prepared pie crust, pour melted butter over top, and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Broil for 1 minute.
8. Bring pie to room temperature, the refrigerate for 1 hour to set.
9. Enjoy!
10. Store in fridge

Recipe adapted from The Domestic Rebel