Lemon Drops and Kahlua Cake

Making dessert's for Kenny's graduation got me my next job! Our other neighbor asked me to make some desserts for a Lemon Drop party she was having. So once I called and talked it over I decided to make 4 items. I made lemon bars, lemon ice box pie, mexican wedding cookies and a chocolate kahlua cake. For the lemon bars I used Ina Garten's recipe, from her 1999 cookbook. I absolutely LOVE Ina. Everything that I've made from her has turned out super delicious. I recommend any book of hers. The only thing bad I've heard about her is that her coconut cupcake recipe is pretty bland, but I have my own so no worries! Then for the lemon ice box pie, which is a classic southern dessert, I used a recipe that my family has been using for years. A lot of people have never had lemon ice box pie, which is really strange for me because my mom made it a lot over the years. It's a creamy and tart lemon filling, kind of like the consistency of pudding, inside a graham cracker crust covered with a fluffy meringue. Now my mother loves to have a super big meringue on top because she thinks its more "impressive" but I think that it's better without a huge meringue on top, so I make mine a lot smaller. Anyways I had a little left over so I made a mini pie and it was sooooo good. I want some right now. Next is the irresistible mexican wedding cookies. I tried the recipe from the huge orange Bon Appetite book that we have and is my favorite recipe thus far. They are super moist and just enough cinnamon sugar on the outside so that they aren't too sweet. Then one of the Daly classic desserts, the chocolate Kahlua cake. MMMMMM. It smelled so good while I was making it, but I couldn't sneak a piece, it would have been too noticeable. I put the glaze on while the cake was still a little warm, and then made another batch of the glaze too put on later. I cut the cake into slices so it would be easy to grab a slice at the party. But, alas I have a confession. This is one out of the two cakes I don't make totally from scratch. I got the recipe from my Grandmama Dale and I use a package of cake mix and a package of pudding mix, and the other cake, Rum Cake, is the same situation but with vanilla cake and pudding mix. So I'm always a little ashamed when people tell me how good the cake is because I don't make it from scratch, but I'm making it a mission to figure out how to make it scratch. (I'll keep you updated :)). . Since making desserts for that party, I have made molten chocolate lava cakes and a batch of my favorite double chocolate chip cookies. mmmm.

On another note, I've started babysitting and have a few jobs lined up so I can make some monaayyy! But I'll still be baking :)