Nana's Lemon Bars

Ingredients for Crust

1 cup Flour

1/2 cup Butter

1/4 cup Sugar

Directions

Mix the three ingredients together in a mixer. Pat into a 9x9 inch pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Ingredients for Lemon Filling

1 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 TBS Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Juice of 2 Lemons

Zest of 1 Lemon

Directions

Mix all ingredients until combined. Pour lemon mixture over hot crust. Return to oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Sprinkle with Powdered Sugar.

Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup sugar 

1/3 cup natural cocoa powder 

4 teaspoons cornstarch

3 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Whipped Cream

3/4 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Place 1 1/2 cups of the milk, the sugar, and the cocoa in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer, over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of the milk, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla in a bowl. Gradually whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture. Return the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat whisking constantly, until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and continue whisking until thick, for about 2 or 3 minutes.

Pour the pudding into 6 small cups. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight until set.
Just before serving pour the cream into a chilled bowl. Whip the cream with a whisk or a hand held mixer, and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gently fold in sugar and vanilla. Serve each pudding with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

(Adapted from Tyler Florence)

Pear Brown Sugar Crisp with Toasted Walnuts

This is an easy dessert to make! Pears are in season this time of year! I had an abundance of miniature pears from the event we did last week. We picked them green to decorate with but they have ripened up beautifully now. So I decided to make a crisp. I used brown sugar instead of white sugar in the topping. The pears were so sweet they didn't need sugar in the filling. And I toasted walnuts to add a nutty flavor and crunch to accompany the soft pears.

Here's where the pears came from for our La Lune Events dinner.

Ingredients
2-3 lbs of Pears
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Cloves
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 stick Butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup Oatmeal
1 cup Walnuts, toasted

Directions

Chop pears into 1 inch cubes. I leave the skin on but remove the stem and core.
Place pears directly into your baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon and cloves.

In a mixer or a large bowl combine soft butter, flour, brown sugar, salt, and oatmeal. Blend until mixture comes together into "pea sized" pieces. If it is too dry, add a splash of milk or water. If it is too wet add a little more flour.

In a saute pan on the stove top or in the broiler, toast 1 cup chopped walnuts until golden brown. Be careful not to burn. Toasting only take about 1 1/2 minutes.

Add the toasted walnuts to the butter-flour mixture.

Top the chopped pears with the butter-flour mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!