Bountiful Baskets August 29th 2015

In this basket we received 5 prickly pears.  I researched how to cut and peel them and extract the syrup.  Out comes my ninja blender and off I go to extract juice.  Then the question is to use it in lemonade, or make lemon bars out of it or cupcakes or salad dressing. 

Prickly Pear Lemon Bars

Yield: The recipe says that it makes sixteen servings, but that depends on how big you cut your bars or squares. I think that you would probably want to double the recipe if you were truly serving sixteen people.

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Ingredients

Cookie base
• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1/4 finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 C butter, softened
Topping
• 2/3 C sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 T all-purpose flour
• 3 T lemon juice
• 1/2 t lemon zest
• 3 T prickly pear juice (You can easily make prickly pear juice with a prickly pear and a food processor or blender. Simply Recipes has a great tutorial on how to make prickly pear juice.)
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 2 T powdered sugar (optional)

Instructions

Prepare the cookie base
1. Mix flour, sugar, pecans, and butter until crumbly.
2. Coat an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray or butter and press the mixture evenly on the bottom of the dish.
3. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.
Prepare the topping and bake
4. Beat all topping ingredients except powdered sugar. Mixture will be thin.
5. Pour over hot crust.
6. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until topping is set.
7. Allow to cool before cutting.
8. If you'd like, top the bars with powered sugar.

Then I will be making blackberry butter just for fun and games. 

1. Blackberry Butter - Amish Recipe
   
   Found on thelazydaisykitchen.blogspot
   
   
   makes one pound of butter 
   Ingredients:
   
   1 pound salted butter, softened
   
   1/8 cup of honey
   
   1/2 cup blackberries
   
   Whip together butter and honey until fluffy.
   
   Add in berries and mix in short bursts until desired look is achieved. I did not want mine to be completely emulsified, so I "broke" up the berries slightly with just a few turns of the paddle attachment.
   
   If storing in jars, scoop into jar and wipe mouth clean. Cap and refrigerate.
   
   If storing in logs, place a piece of plastic wrap over a piece of aluminum foil the same size. Scoop out butter along length of wrap/foil, folding wrap over butter and rolling into consistent-sized cylinder. Roll up foil around log and twist ends. Refrigerate or freeze.
2.