Lemon bars.

It’s Sweets Week here in our house, with 2 birthdays, a birthday party, & Father’s Day falling in the same week. I have a feeling that next week will be Stretchy-Pants Week…

My Husband The Connoiseur’s family has a tradition where, on someone’s birthday, they get to choose a dessert for his mom to make. One of his favorites is lemon tarts. Now, my mother-in-law is an amazing cook, & while I do know my way around the kitchen, I also know better than to try to compete with her. So when my husband requests something of hers, I instead find a similar recipe. That way, if it tastes different, it’s not because I made it wrong! Genius, right?

So for Father’s Day, I made lemon bars for My Husband The One Whose Special Day It Was. Still lemony, but not lemon tarts. This is me preserving my pride & vanity. I found this easy but delicious recipe at Favorite Family Recipes & added notes for next time to make it lemonier, because we love lemon! Except The Munchkin. Which is unfortunate, because in addition to the third of a pan or so that’s still left of these, we now have 3/4 of My Husband The Birthday Boy’s German chocolate cake… Yikes! Like I said, next week is Stretchy-Pants Week. Anyone feel like coming over & helping us finish it all off?

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup margarine (or butter-flavored shortening — what I used)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• (I would also add some lemon zest to the crust)

1. Preheat oven to 350 & lightly spray 9×13 pan with cooking spray.
2. Blend together with 2 forks or a pastry blender until crumbly.
3. Press into bottom of pan.
4. Bake about 20 minutes or until just starting to brown.

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• juice of 2 lemons (about 6 Tbsp.)
• 1/2 tsp. lemon extract — this is me adding this
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• lemon zest — she says “a little,” but I zested a whole lemon & still thought it could use a little more. So I would do zest of 1 lemon in the filling & a little more zest from the other lemon in the crust.

1. Whisk together in medium bowl until well blended.
2. Pour over crust.
3. Bake 20 minutes.
4. Sift powdered sugar over the top & cut into squares.

A Father’s Day breakfast your kids will WANT to help you make.

Sometimes I think Father’s Day would be more appropriately named Husband’s Day. I know you know what I’m talking about. I don’t see many 9-year-olds perusing craft blogs or back issues of Martha Stewart Living looking for cute presents to make for Dad, do you? Mom does it all.

Well, fortunately for you, I’ve got a delicious breakfast you can make for Dad that your kids will beg to help you with. Why? Because it’s messy. Unbelievably messy, if you’re doing it right (or wrong, I guess, depending on your point of view). They’ll get to run their fingers through cinnamon-sugar & sprinkle it over gooey, butter-dredged muffins. Have the Dustbuster ready, ladies!

This recipe comes from ranch wife-turned-blogger-turned role model Ree Drummond’s cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks! She calls them French Breakfast Puffs, but My Husband The Patriot prefers the term… (& they are for him, after all, so we’ll go with it…)

Freedom Puffs

• 3 cups flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. (plus a pinch — this is me saying this, not Ree) nutmeg
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 350 & lightly grease a muffin tin. (Ree says this makes 12 muffins, but I always end up with at least 16, even overfilling the muffin tin slightly.)
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, & nutmeg.
3. In your mixer bowl, cream together sugar & shortening. Add eggs; mix.
4. With the mixer on low, add flour mixture & milk, alternating 1/3 of the flour, 1/3 of the milk, 1/3 of the flour, 1/3 of the milk, etc.
5. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden & a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Melt butter in a large shallow bowl or glass baking dish in your microwave (this takes a minute or so).
7. Combine cinnamon & sugar in another large shallow bowl.
8. Dip warm muffins one at a time in the butter, coating thoroughly, then let your kids roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. The Munchkin kept calling it “sand.” Maybe my bowl should’ve been the size of a sandbox in order to contain it all…
9. Wake up Dad & enjoy these babies warm! Maybe with a topper or flag like this free printable one from Amy Locurto. Or wrap in Saran Wrap, stick in a Ziploc freezer bag, & freeze for later. As Ree says, “They’re in the ‘reheats beautifully’ section of my life.” Just zap one in the microwave, wrapped loosely in a paper towel, for 45 seconds or so!

What are you (& hopefully your kids!) making for Dad this Father’s Day?