This month’s cookie carnival recipe is Toasted Almond Lemon Bars from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. There is actually a new baking group (like Tuesdays with Dorie) who are baking their way through this book. I must say I was tempted to join, but two things stopped me – once was a time thing, and the other was that sometimes it is nice to be able to bake and blog about things that you choose to make. TWD is probably enough for me at the moment.
But, I was excited to get the opportunity to bake a recipe from this book. I love almonds and I love lemony thing (although do prefer chocolate things actually), so I had high expectations for this recipe. The base is a shortbread base with toasted sliced almonds in it, topped with a lemon curd like filling. I halved the recipe to make a small slice tin. I didn’t love this recipe. I found that the base wasn’t quite as crisp as I would have liked and the filling not as lemony as I would have liked. The filling actually had almond essence in it as well, but I left that out, mainly because I haven’t fully unpacked my spices etc yet, and couldn’t be bothered looking for it!
By the way, I am normally a good sleeper, but couldnt last night - this photo was taken at 3am this morning.
I am sure that there are lots of great recipes in the Sweet Melissa Baking book, but for me, I wouldn’t make this one again. You can check out the cookie carnival here.
8 comments:
Sorry you didn't like it! The almond extract really made a difference in the filling flavor, but the crust wasn't real crisp either.
It was pretty good to me, but I think most people have a specific type in mind for lemon bars.
Thanks so much for baking along with me this month anyway!
Ah, that's a shame, that it wasn't your favorite.
I'm glad to hear you're back in the kitchen. Congrats!
Sorry you didn't like it, now we have lots of feedback for when the SMS group bakes this!
I love lemon bars. The toasted almond sounds delicious! Your bars look great.
I made the bars with several changes since my stepson is allergic to almonds.
I substituted macadamia nuts in the crust, added coconut to the lemon instead of almond extract, used less butter in the crust and skipped the whole blind baking step which created a crisper crust.
I think the more we bake, the more we get a feel for what will work for us and what won't.
I've discovered that even if I don't like something I bake, one of my friends or family members does so very little is ever wasted!
3AM!! That's crazy insomnia. These bars look great; I hope the SMS group bakes them soon so that I can try them out. I'm really liking the Sweet Melissa Baking Book thus far. Great job on the bars!
Hi tammy, I know what you mean - I am interested in buying the SMS book after seeing what the group does, but I find it difficult sometimes to keep up just with TWD and DBs - I also don't know what I'd do with all the baked goods!!
Hi Tammy you said you took this photo at 3am ,you are better than me I would have eaten it by then ,it looks yummy !
Post a Comment