Desserts Only

Last night some friends and I threw a baby shower for our friend who is having her 1st baby girl.  It was a tea party theme, and everyone got to take home tea cups and saucers.  We did desserts only--always a good idea.  We enjoyed cheesecake with raspberry sauce (not Wayne's, but still yummmy), strawberry angel food cake dessert, eclairs, cream puffs, gingersnaps, triple lemon bars, key lime bars, and citrus bars.  I brought the bars, so for your munching pleasure, here are the recipe links & my notes....

Mrs. Fields Triple-Layered Lemon Bars

The only thing I tweaked was when making the lemon curd, I added a pinch more cornstarch.  Do this if you're whisking forever and it's not thickening.  If it doesn't thicken properly you'll end up with a sloppy mess of a lemon bar.

Key Lime Bars & Citrus Bars

Cook's Illustrated is our new favorite recipe resource.  The only thing I changed here was I used a 9 oz. box of animal cookies for the crust for my double batch (one lime, one citrus), so I probably ended up with slightly less crust, but it was still yummy.  It was helpful having the zest and juices measured and ready to go when making the filling.

Also, when toasting coconut flakes, don't put them in the toaster oven on level 6 toast...you'll start a fire.  I'm just saying.

The other big hit was the Strawberry Angel Food Cake Dessert.  Cube the angel food cake (we used store bought), whip up some whipped cream, slice strawberries, and layer them in a trifle dish....cake, whipped cream, strawberries, repeat.  We reached the bottom of the dish by the end of the party.