Lemon Strawberry Stars Recipes

STRAWBERRY LEMONADE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside. Lining the pan will really help with cleanup and is recommended.
• In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
• Add the sugars and whisk to combine.
• And the flour, optional salt, and stir to combine. Mixture will be very dry and sandy with some larger, well-formed crumble pieces.
• Set a heaping 3/4 cup crumble mixture aside.
• Transfer remaining mixture to prepared pan, and using a spatula or your fingers, hard-pack the mixture to create an even, smooth, flat crust; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, add the egg, Greek yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and whisk to combine or beat with a handheld electric mixer until smooth.
• Add the flour and whisk to combine or beat with a handheld electric mixer until smooth.
• Evenly pour filling over the crust and jiggle pan to help distribute it or smooth it with a spatula; set aside.
• In a separate medium bowl, add all filling ingredients except flour and toss to combine.
• Evaluate mixture and if it's very thin, runny, soupy, or liquidy, add up to 2 tablespoons flour to help thicken it. If using fresh berries, you may not need any flour. Because I used half fresh and half frozen berries, I needed 2 tablespoons flour because my mixture was thin and soupy.
• Evenly distribute strawberry mixture over the filling, smoothing it lightly with a spatula.
• Evenly sprinkle with the reserved heaping 3/4 cup crust mixture. Before sprinkling, I squeeze the mixture in my palm to encourage bigger crumble pieces to form.
• Bake for about 60 to 75 minutes (place pan on a cookie sheet for insurance against overflow if your pan is quite full), or until edges are bubbling quite vigorously and there's some bubbling in the center. Crumble topping should appear set and very pale golden.*
• Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool for at least 2 hours (overnight is even better) before slicing and serving. After cooling overnight, I placed pan in the fridge 2 hours before slicing to ensure clean, neat cuts. If you try to slice bars before they've cooled completely, they'll be extremely messy and could fall apart.

STRAWBERRY LEMONADE CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Place strawberries in a medium bowl. Cover with 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and refrigerate, 2 hours to overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
• Mash strawberry and sugar mixture with a potato masher, or pulse gently in the bowl of a food processor until strawberries are chunky. Strain strawberries over a bowl, reserving juice.
• Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
• Beat butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until pale yellow and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing for about 1 minute after each egg and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Mix in vanilla extract and strawberry extract.
• Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the milk, blending well and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
• Fold in strawberries and 5 tablespoons strawberry juice with a wooden spoon until well incorporated and you can see bits of strawberry showing throughout the batter. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the tops of the cupcakes are a lovely golden color and they spring back when pressed, about 18 minutes.
• Cool in muffin cups for 5 minutes. Remove from tins and finish cooling on a wire rack, about 30 minutes.
• While the cupcakes are cooling, combine powdered sugar, butter, milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer; whip until creamy.
• Pipe frosting onto cupcakes and garnish each with a strawberry slice.

SMALL-BATCH LEMON-STRAWBERRY COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and coconut until well combined. In a large bowl, beat together butter, granulated and brown sugars, and zest. Beat in egg yolk and extract until light and creamy; stir in flour mixture until just combined. In a separate bowl, whisk egg white with lemon juice until foamy. Add to flour mixture and stir to combine. Refrigerate dough 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place dried strawberries in a 1-quart resealable freezer bag and crush with a rolling pin or small skillet until finely ground (pass through a sieve, if desired, for finer crumbs). Toss 2 tablespoons ground strawberries with sanding sugar. Scoop dough into 6 equal portions with a 1/4-cup (2-ounce) scoop or measuring cup and roll in sanding-sugar mixture. Place on two parchment- or silicone- mat-lined baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Lightly press down with palm of your hand to make 3-inch circles, each a scant 1/2 inch thick.
• Bake, one sheet at a time (keeping second batch in refrigerator while first bakes), banging pans on oven racks a couple of times, until set and slightly darkened in color, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool about 30 minutes more. Serve, or store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

STRAWBERRY SORBET

Steps:

• Place the chopped lemon and sugar in a food processor, and pulse until combined. Transfer to a bowl.
• Purée the strawberries in a food processor, and add to the lemon mixture, along with the juice of 1 lemon. Taste and add more juice as desired. The lemon flavor should be intense but should not overpower the strawberries. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn until frozen.

STRAWBERRY-LEMON TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Place the walnuts, bread crumbs and three tablespoons of the sugar in a food processor and process until the nuts are finely ground but have not become a paste. Press the nut mixture into the bottom and sides of an eight- or nine-inch straight-sided tart pan. Place in the oven and bake about 10 minutes, until the nut crust just begins to color. Spread the crust with two tablespoons of the preserves.
• Beat eggs with remaining sugar and lemon juice. Stir in melted butter. Pour this mixture into tart shell, return to oven and bake about 35 minutes, until custard has set.
• Cool to room temperature, then spread the surface with the remaining preserves and arrange the strawberry slices in a pattern on top.

STRAWBERRY-LEMON LOAF CAKE

Steps:

• Make the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• In a small bowl, toss the strawberries with 1 tablespoon sugar to macerate while you prepare the cake batter.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, lemon zest, baking powder, salt and remaining 1 cup sugar. Whisk to combine. In a second large bowl, combine the sour cream, oil, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir gently to mix. Lift the macerated berries out of their liquid and add them to the batter. Gently fold in the berries until evenly incorporated.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. If it looks to be browning on top too much, tent with aluminum foil. Cool it in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes, then unmold the cake carefully and transfer to the rack to cool completely.
• Make the glaze: In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar with the lemon zest and juice and stir until smooth. Pour the glaze over the cooled cake. Let stand until set.

NO-BAKE LEMON CUSTARDS WITH STRAWBERRIES

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, combine cream, sugar, lemon zest and salt over medium-high heat. Bring to simmer, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar. Simmer vigorously until mixture thickens slightly, about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Let sit until mixture has cooled slightly and a skin forms on top, about 20 minutes.
• Stir mixture, then strain through fine-mesh strainer into a measuring cup with a spout; discard zest. Pour mixture evenly into six 6-ounce ramekins or small bowls.
• Refrigerate, uncovered, until set, at least 3 hours.
• As the custards chill, prepare the strawberry topping: Toss strawberries and sugar in a small mixing bowl. Let fruit macerate at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until the sugar is dissolved.
• To serve, top each lemon custard with some strawberry topping and grind black pepper on top.