Ace in the Hole

I think that every baker has at least one recipe that is their old standby, the recipe that never fails them, always wins them rave reviews and the one item they are known for by their friends, family and peers. For me, that recipe is for my lemon bars.

These lemon bars are the best I've ever tasted, something that pretty much everyone who has ever tasted them, agrees on. The only complaint I've ever received was from a friend who said that after eating my lemon bars, he would buy other ones that he saw for sale, thinking they would be like mine, only to be hugely disappointed!

These lemon bars have a buttery shortbread-type crust, topped with a luscious sweet and tart lemon filling, dusted then with powdered sugar. And the best part about these lemon bars is that they are ridiculously easy to make. So next time you want an easy recipe, that will make you look like a baking star, try these!

LEMON BARS

Crust

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

Filling

2 cups granulated sugar

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4 eggs

6 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon of pure lemon oil (NOT extract) OR 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

To prepare the crust:

In a large bowl, sift together the 2 cups of flour with the confectioners sugar. Pour in melted butter and mix completely. Press mixture evenly into the bottom of a 13 X 9 inch glass baking dish.Bake for 20 minutes or until extremely light golden brown.

To prepare the filling:

In a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar, remaining flour and baking powder and whisk to distribute evenly. Add eggs, lemon juice and lemon oil, or zest and whisk until mixture is well blended.Pour over baked crust and return to the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Once completely cooled, dust with confectioners sugar and cut into squares.

Inspired Cookies

A few years back, a bakery opened not far from where I live, called the Walnut Creek Baking Company. Aside from being a gorgeous little bakery, their products are beautiful, refined, but most importantly, delicious. They have a cookie there that lured me time and again, and finally made me decide to come up with my own version. The white chocolate cranberry cookie. After some adjustments, I think I've got my version down, and I do have to say that I think I enjoy mine better, mainly because I like a crisp cookie, and as fantastic as W.C.B.C.'s cookie is, it is a bit chewier. I also played around with the recipe and made a batch of white chocolate blueberry cookies, which were met with rave reviews as well. This dough is very versatile and simple to make, so I think it would lend itself well to any flavor combination you have in mind......but I'm warning you, these are HIGHLY addictive and one of my most requested cookies.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY COOKIES

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6 oz. package dried cranberries
1 12 oz. package white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the sugars and the butter, then add the egg. Stir in the flour mixture and mix until combined. The dough will be very stiff. Add the cranberries and white chocolate chips and mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Arrange level tablespoons of dough about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and flatten slightly with fingertips. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are a very light golden brown. Cool slightly on cookie sheet, then allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Note: If you prefer chewier cookies, you can choose to not flatten the dough with your fingertips prior to baking as well as baking for a minute or two less than described above.

Mini Memories

I think it was my 8th birthday on Kauai, having my party on the beach, where I was first introduced to Pineapple Upside Down Cake. One of my mom's employees, Cobina, brought this gooey, fruity, perfect cake to the celebration and I was instantly in love.

After finding what I think is the perfect recipe, I began to imagine how perfect individual cakes would be, for a dinner party or any other occasion for that matter. I had some trouble finding the right baking vessel, as I was wanting the edge of the pineapple to also meet exactly at the edge of the cake, but finally had an epiphany that I could easily make the pineapple rings smaller, by removing a small chunk, to fit perfectly into my ceramic ramekins. The next obstacle was the fact that my whole cake recipe is made in a cast iron skillet, first cooking the dark brown sugar and butter, then topping that with the fruit, then batter and putting it immediately into the oven. With individual ramekins, I would need to spoon the hot sugar/butter mixture into each ramekin, one at a time, and if you've ever worked with cooked sugar, you know that it is quite a delicate beast. As feared, when I inverted the little cakes from their ramekins, there was a large piece of dark, buttery caramel stuck to the bottom of the cup. Nonetheless, there was still plenty of liquid syrup to sufficiently moisten each cake and give it the authentic Pineapple Upside Down Cake effect. The problem? The hot buttery sugar mixture had cooled too much in the cold ramekin prior to baking.

I am considering just mixing the dark brown sugar and melted butter together before putting it into the ramekins, without cooking it first, in order to eliminate the solid caramel piece at the bottom. Once I perfect this recipe, I promise to share it with you. Until then, here are a couple of pictures of the first attempt!

Reasons

I am starting this blog as an outlet for one of my favorite things to do.....bake. Over the years, I've grown to love baking, taken pride in what I do, appreciated the happiness it brings myself and others and continued to try to better my craft. The interesting part comes from having a postage stamp sized kitchen to do it all in, hence the Four by Six Bakery title, as my kitchen is roughly 4 feet by 6 feet. Even one person in the kitchen can feel like a crowd sometimes!

One of my favorite things is asking people what their favorite dessert is, and then making it for them. There is something so special about a homemade cookie or your favorite cheesecake, baked especially for you, and I love being able to give people that. And that's where you come in.....

I want this blog to be an experience for myself and for you, the reader. If you have a favorite recipe, culinary memory or idea, please share them with me. I am eager to learn new things, challenge myself and of course, make everyone who tries my baked goods happy. I will be experimenting, sharing my favorite recipes and enjoying my time in my tiny kitchen!