sweet and sour, not the chinese stir fry

As I opened the oven, the smell of tangy lemon essence infused the air. I was excited because I did not use any lemon extract or essence in this baking endeavour, yet the lemonyness was undeniably present.

I had some concerns when I was making these awesome lemon bars. When I was pressing the base into the pan, I thought there would not be crust to cover the pan base and that I would end up a a cracker thin crust. I was also worried that the topping was too thin, resulting in nothing more than a thin layer of lemon glaze on top. and then I worried if the bars were going to be too swee when I added the sweetener, and then I worried they would be too sour as I added the lemon juice (squeezing all that lemon juice sure does "eat" your hands!). What a worrying-filled baking experience. There is always some degree of worrying going on when one bake, especially when baking a brand new creation. But man, this was double the normal amount of worrying.

Thankfully, my concerns were all unfounded.

• the crust was of the right thickness
• the topping was much more than just a glaze
• the topping was a balanced combination of sweet and sourness

1stly, make the base:

1/2 cup besan flour (46g)
1/4 cup flour (33g atta)
3 tbsp equivalent sugar (stevia)
1/4 cup equivalent butter (pureed pumpkin)
-combine flours and sugar
-add butter (pumpkin) in portions and mix till all ingredients are combined
-press into a lined 8x8 pan and bake at 180degreeC-10-15 mins
-notes: i did not use up all the pumpkin; added a little bit of water

topping:1/3 cup sugar (sweetener)2 egg white

1 yolk (pumpkin puree-abt 2 yolks amount)

1 tsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice (32g)

baking powder

-beat all ingredients together till thoroughly combined ( will be somewhat foamy)

-pour onto par-baked crust and bake 20 minutes

-notes: when out of the oven, the top may be a little hard/crunchy to the touch; it will soften as it cools)

these lemon bars are freaking awesome! I ate the entire pan after dinner. ( except for a tiny weeny bit which my dad stole. haha)

Chocolate, meet Orange

Chocolate. Orange. They compliment each otherexceptionally well. The first time I tried this combination, it was when I baked a cake. I was surprised at how the citrius brought out the chocolatey flavour of the cake. So, I did repeated this flavour combo again in this simple ice cream recipe using:

2 cups almond milk + 1 cup skim milk + 1 cup water , 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp stevia ( =1cup sugar), 1 tsp orange extract ( will add zest next time), 2 tsp agar powder, 1-2 tsp xanthan gum

-combine all the above over heat so agar dissolves. I use a stick blander after heating.

-freezer and stir/speed mixer every 1-2 hours after the 1st mix when mixture gets firm.

I sprinkled on some puffed rice for crunch. A rather light cocoa scented ice cream than a rich chocolatey one. This recipe makes alot as I made mine with a high air volume churned in.

one scoop,

two scoop...

all gone!