Prep it up!

This past week we had a dinner party with the Prep gang (or 4Pod as Jackie calls us). We decided on a tapas theme. Jackie and Maggie took care of the main dishes and I was in charge of dessert. The dishes included delicious quesadillas, cocktail wieners, meatballs, a yummy crostini, deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms and other things I am probably forgetting. I had a difficult time deciding what to bring and then it hit me: since it's a high school group of friends why not bring my high school signature dish?! Lemon bars! Whenever we had a class party I was always asked to bring in my lemon bars. But I couldn't limit myself to just one thing. Plus I wanted to keep with the bite-size tapas theme so enter teeny tiny Vanilla Pudding Cookies, Mini Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, and Lemon Bar Circles.

Jenni's Famous Lemon Bars

(which Jenni originally got from an old Betty Crocker recipe book)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 butter, softened
1/4 powdered sugar (plus more for dusting)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice (plus an extra dash!)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix flour, butter and powdered sugar. Press into an ungreased 8x8 pan. Make 1/2 inch edges.
3. Bake crust for 20 minutes.
4. Beat sugar, lemon juice, baking powder, salt and eggs with mixer for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.. Pour over hot crust.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
6. Cool, dust with powdered sugar.

I would also like to restate my love for my cupcake corer and pancake pen (which was used for both batter and ganache). Amazing creations. 

Coring the mini-cupcakes

Other possible titles for this entry include: Jenni doesn't know how to halve recipes, Dessert Explosion, 4.5 hours of baking hell when it's 101 degrees out, the Night of 75 cookies, 50 cupcakes, and 20 lemon bars, or just plain old gluttony. But really, what's the fun in halving a dessert recipe?!