Lemon Bar Smash

Lemon Bar Smash

:: Lemon Bar Smash ::

Sometimes life gives you lemons, and sometimes those lemons turn into lemon bars that don’t turn out! It’s why I turned this recipe into a Lemon Bar Smash and let’s just say, I am so glad for these lemons.

The pressure was building, the kids were fighting, and we needed to be out the door an hour ago.  It was time for a station visit so that we could see my husband at work.  If you know anything about firefighters, they like to eat! It’s an unspoken rule that when you visit the station, you need to bring a tasty treat.  My goal was to make a semi-homemade batch of lemon bars.  Much to my dismay….the speedy method did not turn out the way I wanted them to.  So in my panic state of mind and in between the he said she said tattle tales by the kids, I remembered everything tastes better topped with ice cream.

Desperate times make for desperate measure.  Luckily, {but not for my waste line} I always have home made ice cream in the freezer.  I just had made a batch of Marshmallow Shortbread Ice Cream in the freezer.  The recipe is super simple and topped on smashed lemons bars=heaven.  The kids were happy {the fighting stopped…for a moment}, husband was happy, and the guys at work were happy too {I think}!

 firefighter

firestation visit

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Lemon Bar Smash

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Serves: 10

Ingredients
  • Lemon Bars:
  • 12 ounces shortbread cookies (I used Walker's Shortbread Mini Rounds)
  • 1 jar of Trader Joe's Lemon Curd
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • Marshmallow Shortbread Ice Cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ¼ cup malt powder
  • 3 ounces smashed shortbread cookies (about 8 mini cookies)
  • 1 jar marshmallow cream
Instructions
  1. Dump in 8 ounces of shortbread into a bowl of a food processor.
  2. Pulse until the cookies are slightly broken down.
  3. Add the 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter and ⅓ cup sugar to the processor.
  4. Pulse again until mixed and smooth.
  5. In a greased 8x8 pan scoop the shortbread mixture out of the processor and spread an even layer at the bottom of the pan.
  6. Spread the full jar of lemon curd over the the cookie mixture.
  7. Top with shifted powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon zest.
  8. For the ice cream:
  9. In a small bowl whisk together the sugar, milk, vanilla, and malted milk.
  10. Mix until the sugar has dissolved and the malted milk is mixed in.
  11. Add the whipping cream and mix slowly for 1 minute.
  12. Poor the milk mixture into an ice cream machine.
  13. Turn the machine on and churn for 20 minutes.
  14. Turn the machine off and add 3 ounces or 8 cookies that have been smashed to the ice cream machine.
  15. Churn for an additional 2-5 minutes until the cookies are incorporated.
  16. Once done turn the machine off and spoon the ice cream into a freezer safe container in batches, in between each spoonful add a spoonful of marshmallow cream until the jar has been added to all of the ice cream.
  17. Place in the freezer for 2 hours.
  18. In the bottom of a bowl add one lemon bar square topped with one scoop of ice cream.

 nicole signature via simply happenstance