The BEST Vegan Cream Cheese

If you’ve been missing cream cheese in your dairy-free life, your suffering is now over. We’ve put our heads together to bring you the BEST vegan cream cheese made with recognizable ingredients! It’s thick, creamy, tangy, super spreadable, and ready to…

The BEST Vegan Cream Cheese

If you’ve been missing cream cheese in your dairy-free life, your suffering is now over. We’ve put our heads together to bring you the BEST vegan cream cheese made with recognizable ingredients! It’s thick, creamy, tangy, super spreadable, and ready to be best friends with bagels (recipe coming soon!), frosting, and beyond.

Not only does it look, feel, and taste as good as the real thing, but it’s easy to make with just 1 blender, 8 ingredients, and 30 minutes required.

The BEST Vegan Cream Cheese from Minimalist Baker →

Easy Iced Lemon Cake Bars

Iced Lemon Bars
When you think of lemon bars, you probably picture the lemon curd-topped treats that make citrus-lovers’ mouths water. I love a good lemon bar – and I have a recipe for perfect ones – but that’s not the only lemon dessert out there when you’re in the mood for a little …

The post Easy Iced Lemon Cake Bars appeared first on Baking Bites.

Iced Lemon Bars
When you think of lemon bars, you probably picture the lemon curd-topped treats that make citrus-lovers’ mouths water. I love a good lemon bar – and I have a recipe for perfect ones – but that’s not the only lemon dessert out there when you’re in the mood for a little citrus. And in the case of this recipe, I do mean a little! These Easy Iced Lemon Cake Bars are dense, tender cakes that are topped with a lemon icing. They’re bursting with lemon flavor, though you’ll probably only need a single lemon to make a batch, and they’ll satisfy a citrus craving every time.

The cake bars start with a batter that is flavored generously with lemon zest. The zest of a lemon is the colorful outer peel of the citrus fruit and it contains lots of lemon oil, which has a very concentrated lemon flavor. The best way to get the zest from your lemon is by using a microplane, which will get the zest off of one lemon in just a few seconds. It is possible to zest a lemon without using a microplane, but it takes a bit more time. One large lemon should provide enough zest for this recipe. Though there is no lemon juice in the cake batter, the icing is flavored using lemon juice, so just set the zested lemon aside after you use it for the cake batter to use when you’re ready to make the icing.

This cake almost has a pound cake-like texture to it and, though it is quite a bit lighter in texture than most pound cakes, it still uses quite a bit of butter. The batter will not rise as high as some other styles of cake, yielding a denser bar that is still very tender. It’s firm enough that you can pick up a slice and eat it out of hand, even though it can also be served with a fork.

The cake is baked in a 9×13-inch pan and should be cut into about 20 squares, but you can make them larger or smaller depending on the number of people you need to serve. The icing should be poured over the cake once it has cooled and spread into an even layer on top of the cake, which should be relatively flat after baking. I added a little sprinkle of lemon zest to the top of my cake to hint at the flavor, but feel free to dress it up by adding sprinkles, colored icing or even some edible flowers!

Easy Iced Lemon Cake Bars
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
10 tbsp butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup yogurt (or sour cream)
1 tbsp lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)

Icing
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, yogurt and lemon zest, then gradually stir in the flour mixture until the batter comes together and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Pour batter into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely before topping with the icing.

To make the icing: Whisk together confectioners’ sugar, 2 tbsp lemon juice and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Gradually add in additional lemon juice, if needed, to thin the icing to a pourable consistency. Pour over cooled cake and spread into an even layer. Allow icing to set for at least 30 minutes before serving.

The post Easy Iced Lemon Cake Bars appeared first on Baking Bites.

Kale & Farro Salad with Sourdough Breadcrumbs

This hearty kale salad is anything but boring: tossed with tangy lemon and flavorful pecorino cheese and topped with nutty farro, crunchy sourdough breadcrumbs, and tart dried barberries. The addition of nutritious farro makes this salad suitable as a meal unto itself, perfect for lunch or a light dinner, though it’s also lovely served as […]

The post Kale & Farro Salad with Sourdough Breadcrumbs first appeared on Love and Olive Oil.

This hearty kale salad is anything but boring: tossed with tangy lemon and flavorful pecorino cheese and topped with nutty farro, crunchy sourdough breadcrumbs, and tart dried barberries.

The addition of nutritious farro makes this salad suitable as a meal unto itself, perfect for lunch or a light dinner, though it’s also lovely served as a side salad alongside some grilled chicken or seared steak.

As our friend Richard used to say… it’s delicious AND nutritious!

Two dark gray bowls of Kale & Farro Salad with Sourdough Breadcrumbs on a dark gray background, loaf of sourdough bread in the background.

The base of this kale salad recipe comes from the Six Seasons cookbook, and it’s one we’ve made many, many times (it’s one of the few kale salad recipes I actually like).

While the original recipe is near perfect, we wanted to make it a bit more substantial and filling as a meal in and of itself, hence the addition of farro. We also used homemade sourdough for the breadcrumbs, added barberries, and tweaked the process a little bit (adding the cheese separately versus mixing it all together makes for more even distribution and less clumps). Also, twice as much cheese and garlic (as you do).

This recipe works with any kind of kale; the original calls for lacinato (the darker, dino-skin looking stuff); we used curly kale here since I love the texture and lift: it doesn’t collapse under the weight of the farro.

(more…)

Mint Lemonade

This mint lemonade recipe is easy and refreshing! The cooling, herbaceous notes of mint pair perfectly with the zing of…

A Couple Cooks – Recipes worth repeating.

This mint lemonade recipe is easy and refreshing! The cooling, herbaceous notes of mint pair perfectly with the zing of lemon.

Mint Lemonade

Here’s a beverage that’s ideal for summer sipping: Mint Lemonade! This recipe is ideal for when you have loads of this fresh herb on hand. The cooling, herbaceous notes of the mint are a perfect pair with the acidic pop of the lemon. What could be more refreshing? It’s simple to whip up and perfect for parties and entertaining. Or, make a big pitcher to drink off of all week! Here’s our master method.

Ingredients for mint lemonade

This mint lemonade recipe skips making a simple syrup on the stovetop, and goes right to the blender. In fact, all you need to do is blend mint and sugar, then mix it with lemon juice to form lemonade. As a note, this recipe is best in summer you’ve got fresh mint to spare. It calls for 1 cup mint leaves, which can get expensive if you’re buying store-bought out of season. Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe:

  • Fresh mint
  • Lemons
  • Sugar
Mint Lemonade recipe

How to make mint lemonade (basic steps)

It’s very easy to make your own homemade lemonade! The most time consuming part? Juicing the lemons! Here are the basic steps for how to make this mint lemonade (or jump to the recipe below for quantities):

  • Juice the lemons. Using a press juicer is the quickest way to juice lemons: it gets out the most juice and saves your fingers from tiring out from squeezing. The next best choice? A handheld citrus juicer.
  • Blend the mint, sugar and water. Give it a whiz in the blender.
  • Double strain it with a fine mesh strainer! This is the important part. You’ll want to strain the liquid twice to avoid floating sediment that forms from the blended mint.
  • Mix the pitcher. Then mix it in a pitcher with the lemon juice and more cold water.
  • Garnish with fresh mint! This is also important. Garnishing with another sprig of mint is important for getting the right mint aroma to each sip.
Mint lemonade

Variations on this recipe

There are other fun ways to mix up this mint lemonade recipe: like making it sparkling or spiked! Here are a few fun variations:

More lemonade recipes

Want more homemade lemonade flavors? Once you’ve whipped up mint lemonade, try these variations:

This mint lemonade recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.

Print
Mint Lemonade

Mint Lemonade


  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 8 drinks

Description

This mint lemonade recipe is easy and refreshing! The cooling, herbaceous notes of mint pair perfectly with the zing of lemon.


Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (7 to 8 large lemons)*
  • 7 cups water, divided
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup mint leaves, loosely packed
  • Ice, for serving

Instructions

  1. Juice the lemons. Add the lemon juice to a pitcher with 6 cups cold water.
  2. In a blender, combine the sugar, mint leaves and 1 cup warm water. Blend until fully combined.
  3. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Then strain it back through the strainer into the pitcher with the lemon juice. (Double straining helps to remove sediment that would otherwise form at the top of the liquid.)
  4. Add ice to the pitcher. Garnish each glass with a sprig of fresh mint, to get the most of the mint flavor.  Serve immediately or store refrigerated for up to 3 days.
  • Category: Drink
  • Method: No Cook
  • Cuisine: Lemonade
  • Diet: Vegan

Keywords: Mint lemonade, mint lemonade recipe

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