Lemon Ginger Bars

This is a lovely ginger bar with a touch of lemon. I made this a couple of months ago, just never got round to post about it. The taste of the ginger is not overpowering, you could definitely taste the ginger, but it is not overly strong. Because it has crystallized and ground ginger, instead of fresh ginger, you would not feel the heat from the ginger, and the ginger goes well with the honey and lemon.

The simple glaze of icing sugar and lemon is nice, the glaze will harden, making it easier to stack the bars as they will not stick to each other.

I love using crystallized ginger in bakes and could not resist popping some in the mouth when I chopped them to pieces!

A lovely bar, with a touch of lemon, both in the bar and the frosting. The frosting will harden when it cools, but it is very nice, and this ginger bar is a good keeper. I kept the sliced bars for almost a week in an air-tight container, leaving it on the table at room temperature (no need to refrigerate), and I nibbled on them, mostly on my own, well not all of it! My kids are not overly fond of ginger, so I packed most of it for my hubby to take for this office colleagues.

This makes quite a big tray, so it will be great to share. Otherwise, halve the recipe. I love the bits of ginger in the bar. The best way to eat this is to cut in small pieces to nibble and enjoy!

Lovely with some warm Chinese Tea.

I'm sharing this with :
Recipe Box hosted by Bizzy Bakes
Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Frugal Food Thursday hosted by Frugal Follies
Food on Fridays : Lemon and Limes hosted by Carole's Chatter


Lemon Ginger Bars
(adapted from "bake!" by Nick Malgieri)
Makes 24 bars
325gm plain flour
170gm sugar (I use 130gm)
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking powder
225gm unsalted butter
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons finely chopped crystallised ginger
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

Lemon Glaze
225gm icing sugar, sifted after measuring
3 tablespoons lemon juice, strained before measuring

One 23x33x5cm tin lined with buttered foil

1. Set a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 190C/gas mark 5.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, ground ginger and baking powder in a medium bowl.
3. Melt the butter over a medium heat and immediately add to the dry ingredients; use a large rubber spatula to stir to a smooth, shiny dough. Add the egg, crystallised ginger, honey and lemon zest and beat vigorously to make a smooth dough.
4. Scrape the dough into the prepared tin and use the palm of your hand to press it evenly over the bottom of the tin. Don't be concerned if the dough looks greasy, as though some of the butter has separated out.
5. Bake the bars until well risen, firm and lightly golden, 20-25 minutes.
6. While the bars are baking, use a small rubber spatula to beat the icing sugar and lemon juice together. If it's too thick to spread, thin by adding 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until it's right.
7. As soon as the bars are baked, place a chopping board on the tin and use oven mitts to invert the hot bars to the board. Remove the tin and foil. Immediately use a small palette knife to spread the lemon glaze on the bars so that it sets as the bars cool.
8. Use a ruler to mark, then cut into 5mm squares.

Serving : Arrange the bars on a serving plate; the icing is dry, so they can be stacked.

Storage : Keep the bars in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid between sheets of baking paper.

THB : Cinnamon-Apple Walnut Torte & Vanilla Frozen Yoghurt

Bake No. 9 at The Home Bakers (THB). For this round of bake, Jasline from Food Is My Life has chosen Cinnamon-Apple Walnut Torte. Jasline is a talented baker and she always provides step-by-step photos for her bakes, a dedicated baker and blogger! If you have not already known Jasline, then stop by her wonderful blog and say hi!

Cinnamon-Apple Walnut Torte is really like a crumble without any filling underneath! So if you love eating crumbles with crunchy top, then you would fall for this! The good thing is, it has no butter or oil whatsoever, I would consider it a healthy choice for a delicious satisfying dessert!

I made half a recipe, and baked in a 6-inch pie plate. I was curious how this torte would turn out, as it contains very little flour. The only changes I made was to reduced the brown sugar to 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup for half a recipe. Option to use walnuts or pecans, and I used walnuts. Again the choice of whether to lightly toast the nuts, and due to laziness, I just mixed them in without toasting.

The original recipe calls for the full recipe to be baked in a 9-inch pie pan for 30 minutes. I find that it took exactly the same amount of time, 30 minutes to bake my 6-inch pie plate crumbles for it to turn all brown and nice.

There are four of us in my family, and each gets a quarter. I use a mixture of black and golden raisins and they are plump and juicy when baked. The apples has a slight crunch, and the walnuts are crunchy and nutty. The rest of the ingredients are a little amount of flour, an egg, vanilla extract and of course, the apples' best friend, the cinnamon!  

I served it with my homemade frozen vanilla yoghurt. 

This is the perfect dessert! The smooth creamy frozen yoghurt with a slight sourish tang is perfect eaten with this torte. You would not feel guilty eating this delightful dessert, it is almost fat free! wink! wink ( I say "almost" because the yoghurt is made from full cream milk, and is yummy eaten on its own! And even delicious made into frozen yoghurt!).
Overall review : This is a delicious torte, simply a pleasure to eat. I like it that it is so easy to make, and is really good, served with some frozen yoghurt or ice cream.

If you would like to give this torte a try, please do visit Jasline for the full recipe. And to see the rest of my fellow bakers delightful torte, please drop by The Home Bakers (THB).

THB is currently baking from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas, if you would like to join in and be a member of THB, please email me at kitchenflavours@yahoo.com
Everyone's welcome!!


Here's the recipe for the Vanilla Frozen Yoghurt :
Vanilla Frozen Yoghurt
(adapted from : The Perfect Scoop, David Lebovitz)
3 cups full-cream homemade yoghurt (I use 2-1/3 cup homemade yoghurt, that was what I had left)
1 cup sugar (I use only 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together the yoghurt, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Rustic Red Sauced Eggs and Crispy Potatoes : IHCC

"What's In Your Lunchbox???" That's the theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) where we are cooking from Rick Bayless's recipes until end of September. So, what's for lunch??? A simple recipe from Rick Bayless that I knew my kids would enjoy for their lunch. Two of my kids favourites, eggs and potatoes!! Already a winner for sure with just these two ingredients!

This is my lunch, Rustic Red Sauced Eggs with Crispy Potatoes. Well the potatoes are not crispy, they are steamed and then fried till brown all over before the beaten eggs are poured over and gently fried scrambled-like style to create large curds. They are then served topped with Roasted Tomato Salsa, from my previous post. 

A delicious, easy and simple lunch. The salsa is a little spicy and is perfect with the eggs and potatoes, great with some cucumber and juicy cherry tomatoes.

My kids' lunchbox. The salsa is a little spicy for them, so they had some Honey Barbecue Baked Beans, which I made that same morning, to go with the eggs and potatoes. Some toasted garlic bread, slices of fresh cucumber and cherry tomatoes, completes their lunch box. They love the eggs and potatoes and already requested me to make this again!

Have not decided what to have for lunch yet? Please do drop by I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) to see "What's In Your Lunchbox?", you might find what you are looking for!

Rustic Red Sauced Eggs and Crispy Potatoes

(source : Fronterafiesta, Rick Bayless)
Serves 4
2 cups diced red potatoes (about 1/2-inch dice)
1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
6 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 cup Frontera Roasted Tomato Salsa or Frontera Jalapeno Salsa (I use my homemade Roasted Tomato Salsa)
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. Steam the potatoes in a steamer set over boiling water in a covered medium-size saucepan until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove potates from the steamer.
2. Heat the oil in a large (10 to 12-inch), well-seasoned or nonstick skillet over medium. Add the potatoes and fry until golden on all sides, about 5 minutes.
3. Beat the eggs with the salt and 1/4 cup of water in a medium bowl. Add the eggs to the skillet, cook, stirring gently to create large curds, until soft set, about 2 minutes. Serve immediately topped with generous spoonfuls of the salsa and a sprinkling of cilantro.