Work catering #20: Bad baking days....

Just like when you have a bad hair day or a bad day at work, you can also have a Bad Baking Day! I'm sure many of you bakers have experienced this. When you just run out of ingredients, when you accidentally forget about a cake in the oven or when you misread a recipe and add too much sugar or don't add it at all! You get what I mean... >.<

Anyways so this week I had a bad baking day.
#1: Ran out of baking paper/forgot to buy some - had to use foil
#2: Although the recipe said I could use foil to line the baking tin, it managed to get stuck to the sides and bottom of the tin so I couldn't get the lemon slice out.
#3: As i tried to get the lemon bars out of the tin, the top dislodged from the biscuit base. Had to stick it together...
#4: Wanted to make Orange and Poppy seed cake but ran out of poppy seeds/couldn't find them

DESPITE all the mishaps, I managed to make something for this week's catering =) I found it quite funny/ironic that the recipe was called "Perfect Lemon Bars"! haha especially when I was having so much trouble with it!

PERFECT LEMON BARS
Recipe adapted from Princess in the Kitchen

Ingredients
Crust
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs lemon zest
1/2 cup (113g) butter, softened at room temperature

Filling
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups caster sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
3 tbsp plain flour

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line a 20x20cm baking pan with baking paper (NOT FOIL XD)
2. Make crust by whisking flour, icing sugar, salt and lemon zest in large bowl. 
3. Cut butter into chunks and add to flour mixture. Blend with electric mixer on low speed until mixture resembles crumbs (or you can just use your fingertips to rub the butter into flour mix). Press mixture into prepared pan with back of spoon. Bake for 16-19 minutes until lightly brown around the edges.
4. Make filling by whisking all filling ingredients together in large bowl. When crust comes out and still hot, pour in filling mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes until filling is set (and does not jiggle when pan is gently shaken). 
5. Cool completely before slicing. Sift icing sugar on top and serve =)

Lemon bars.. or squares

Close up of lemon bars - melted icing sugar....

So it just so happened I got the ALDI catalogue in my mail and came across this easy no bake slice recipe =D I had all the ingredients at home as well ^^

Marshmallow Slice
Recipe adapted from ALDI

Ingredients

250g sweet biscuits, crushed (I used Marie biscuits)

3/4 cup (35g) mini marshmallows (or bigger ones cup up)

3/4 cup (60g) desiccated coconut

3/4 cup (135g) choc chips

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 can (395g) condensed milk

100g butter, chopped

1 tsp vanilla essence

200g milk chocolate, melted

1. Grease and line 20x30cm baking pan.

2. In large bowl combine biscuits, marshmallows, coconut, choc chips and cocoa powder.

3. In medium saucepan combine condensed milk, butter and vanilla essence. Stir over low heat until butter is melted. Pour over biscuit mixture and mix well. 

4. Firmly press into prepared pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Spread melted chocolate on top of slice. Refrigerate until set and cut into squares.

Stretched out... whoa..

Close up of marshmallowy goodness

It tasted like a cross between a rumball and rocky road!

Anyways... Here's to having better baking days in the future :)