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Lemon Brownies (with Lemon Essential Oil)

What is a lemon brownie, you might ask? Well, think the consistency of a regular chocolate brownie, but with lemon instead of chocolate flavor. Moist. Dense. Pure Goodness. (It really isn’t ‘lemon bar’. Truly, ‘brownie’ fits it much better, even if the term confuses everyone.)

Since I LOVE lemon I couldn’t wait to try this recipe. I was not disappointed. If the idea of something brownie-like, but with lots of lemon flavor sounds good to you, you’re looking at the right recipe. Mmm. Easy to make, easy to eat. What’s not to love about that? (Make a double batch. You’ll thank me later!)

Ingredients:

Brownies:
(if you like super thick brownies, consider doubling or at least 1.5 increasing the recipe as these are on the thin-ish half inch thick size)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup flour (I used GF flour blend in equal parts and it worked fine)
2 large eggs

1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
(You can either get enough lemons to zest and juice to give you the required amounts needed for recipe, or use dehydrated lemon zest and bottled lemon juice)

10-15 drops lemon essential oil (make sure it’s a quality of oil you can ingest). See the kind I use here.
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze:
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon zest
10-15 drops lemon essential oil
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 8×8 pan and set aside

Zest and juice enough lemons to get required amount of zest and juice (or measure out dried zest and lemon juice concentrate). Set aside

With an electric mixer, blend flour, sugar, salt, and butter until combined. In separate bowl, mix together eggs, lemon zest, juice and oil until combined. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, until smooth and creamy.

Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 23-25 minutes (edges should turn golden brown).

Allow to cool.

Glaze:
Combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, zest and oil together with whisk. Dump over cooled brownies and spread with spatula. Let glaze set.

Enjoy.

Why Lemon Essential Oil?

Why use lemon essential oil when you’re already using lemon juice and lemon zest? Why use lemon essential oil at all, for that matter, when you can just use the fruit to begin with? People ask me that from time to time, so I’ll tell you what I tell them (in case you have the same question).

Lemon essential oil is filled with all the important properties that helps to protect the lemons on the tree, help them grow into healthy fruit. Those same properties help our bodies too. And while lemon juice and lemon zest contain lemon (and therefore likely some essential oils), pure grade essential oils are 50-70% more potent and filled with good for my body properties*. Why not give my body a big dose of good-for-me immune strengthening goodness (even while I’m eating brownies)?

What is lemon essential oil good for? Well, lots of things. It helps to cleanse the body and aid in digestion, it helps support healthy respiratory function and it helps to aid in seasonal respiratory discomfort to name a few. (Okay with all this good stuff, can I claim these lemon brownies as health food?? ha. Okay, maybe not. But, we’ll still get the good benefits by eating it.)

Added Bonus:

I made these lemon brownies for friends who couldn’t wrap their head around chocolate-less brownies. So, as a compromise I made some homemade chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Just a dollop of fresh whipped cream (where I added 5 drops of lemon essential oil) and a drizzle of the chocolate sauce on top of the lemon brownies was a nice touch, but honestly, I liked them plain just as well.

PS I got the original recipe from here.

*Of course none of these statements have been evaluated by the FDA. And I am not advocating lemon oil in brownies will keep you healthy. But any bit of goodness we can get, why not go for it?

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10-Minute Peppermint Bark (with Essential Oils)

Peppermint Bark with Essential OilsI LOVE Peppermint bark. Mmmm. So when I was given a big bag of white chocolate recently, I decided to make some. This recipe is super easy. It truly takes less than 10 minutes of actual work if you’re using a microwave to melt your chocolate. And by adding a couple drops of pure grade peppermint essential oil, you kick it up a notch or two. Irresistible.

Here’s what you need: 

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups white chocolate pieces
2-3 mini candy canes (or peppermint candy or large candy canes–whatever works for you)
Peppermint essential oil (make sure it’s a pure grade oil that can be ingested–not all essential oils are created equal and not all are safe to ingest)
a bit of coconut oil

Here’s how to do it:

First, find a casserole or cookie sheet to use for this recipe. For me, this was a hit and miss process. I thought it would taste great to make SUPER THICK peppermint bark, but realized that it’s hard to bite into. So, after trying a few different dishes, casseroles and containers, I ended up with a small cookie sheet measuring 9×13. This made the peppermint bark the perfect thickness (in my humble opinion) and it also fit into my fridge side freezer which was an added plus.

After you’ve got your pan, give it a light coat of coconut oil.

Next, dump your chocolate chips in a small bowl, add about 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil (this helps it be spreadable and also helps keep it more firm when it’s done and sitting at room temperature).  It’s SUPER IMPORTANT that you don’t overheat your chocolate. It will get crunchy and won’t ever get soft again…..sooooo….put it in the microwave for 1 minute. Pull it out and stir. It might not be very melted at this point but that’s okay. Stir anyway. Then, put it back in for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Pull it  back out and stir some more. At this point is should be mostly melted and if you keep stirring it for a few seconds, the rest of the small chunks will melt.peppermint-bark-melting-choc

(You can also use a double boiler to melt your chocolate if you would rather. Either way you’ll end at the same result, one method just takes longer than the other.)

Dump this melted chocolate into the cookie sheet and use a spatula to evenly spread it over the entire surface. Put this in the freezer.

peppermint-bark-spreading-choc

While the chocolate firms up in the freezer, take a rolling-pin and crush 2-3 mini candy canes. If you’re careful, you can crush them right in the baggies they come in (occasionally one of mine broke out of the bag, but mostly it worked). If you don’t like taking chances, put the candy canes in a zip baggie and crush them like that. You’ll want mostly pretty finely smashed pieces, with some bigger chunks too. Set the crushed candy canes aside.

peppermint-bark-crushing-canes

Peek at the chocolate in the freezer. Once it’s totally hard and cold, then melt the white chocolate just like you melted the dark chocolate. Add a bit of coconut oil to the white chocolate, put in microwave for 1 minute, stir, 30 seconds to 1 minute more, stir out the lumps. Once the white chocolate is smooth, add 2-5 drops of peppermint essential oil. (You might want to add a bit and taste it to see how you like it–because remember–if you’re using GOOD peppermint oil, one drop is the equivalent to 20+ cups of peppermint tea. A little goes a long ways.)

peppermint-bark-layering

After you’ve stirred the peppermint oil in, pull the frozen sheet of chocolate out of the freezer (LEAVE IT IN THERE UNTIL RIGHT NOW) and spread the white chocolate layer on top. You need to work quickly and not fuss too much with this 2nd layer because you don’t want this hot layer of candy to melt the bottom layer. Next, sprinkle the crushed candy cane over the top of the white layer while it’s still warm and melty.

peppermint-bark-whole-sheet

Put it all back in the freezer until hard. Pull out and break into pieces.

peppermint-bark-stack

That’s how easy it is. And tasty too. Mmm. Enjoy!

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Lemongrass Chicken

Cooking with Essential Oils- Lemongrass Chicken

I came across a recipe for Lemongrass Chicken over at Food Renegade recently and decided I wanted to make it. (You can see the original recipe here). I’m a fan of chicken, cilantro, lime and all the other good stuff in the recipe…but then I wondered: What would it taste like if I substituted essential oils for the lemongrass, cilantro, lime and ginger? I’m all about experimenting in the kitchen. And, equally, I’m about cooking with essential oils.

So, I experimented. For each of the items I substituted with oils, I started out with one drop (remember, essential oils are 50-70% more potent than the herb). I ended up using 2 each of lemongrass and ginger, 3 cilantro and 2 lime (plus the juice of one lime for good measure). It tasted great.

lemongrass-chicken-oils

Here’s what I did:

Lemongrass Chicken

4 chicken breasts
2 drops lemongrass essential oil
2 drops ginger essential oil
2 drops lime essential oil
3 drops cilantro essential oil (because I’m a huge fan)
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 can coconut milk
A pinch of crushed red pepper

Whiz all the above in a blender or food processor. Take about half of this mixture and coat your chicken, place in a glass pan or bowl, cover tightly and put in fridge overnight. (If you’re using essential oils, please don’t place this in a plastic dish and the oils will leach the toxins from the plastic.)

The next day, cook chicken on a baking sheet (lined with parchment, foil or oil) at 450 for 10-12 minutes. Then broil for 3-5 minutes to brown it.

lemongrass-chicken

Spiralize 3-4 zucchini (depending on size) and place in single serving bowls (or plates).

Take the reserved marinade from the day before (the stuff that hasn’t been sitting in raw meat!) and add 2-3 tablespoons of coconut amino acids, Braggs, or soy sauce. Stir well. Add small amounts of this mixture to zucchini noodles, toss. Add to taste.

Once the chicken is done, slice and top zucchini noodles with it. Add diced red bell pepper and chopped fresh cilantro for garnish. And more marinade if you want.

Mmmm.

I came up with the idea of the marinade in the noodles when I started thinking about how some of the therapeutic properties of the oils would be lost in the heating process. Since all the oils I used have wonderful health benefits, I didn’t want substituting herbs for oils to be for nothing (although the taste was still great).

lemongrass-chicken-with-noodles

And oh! if you guys haven’t discovered the Vegetti yet, you seriously need one. They’re super cheap–less than $8 on Amazon–and they transform the humble zucchini into pasta without the empty calories). Yes, I love mine. Anyway, after I made the noodles, I added around 2 tablespoons of coconut aminos (you could also use soy sauce or Braggs aminos) to the leftover marinade I’d saved, and tossed it in with the noodles (I didn’t use all the marinate, so start small and add to taste). It was DELICIOUS.

In my books it was a win/win. The cooked chicken tasted wonderful. And the ‘raw’ marinate contained all the healthy benefits of the essential oils (and tasted fantastic). One nice thing about cooking with essential oils is that you don’t have to have all the fresh ingredients around to make something healthy. Plus, just a little goes a long ways and you receive an extra punch of the health giving properties of the oils.

However, a word of caution: Make sure you have PURE essential oils if you’re going to ingest them. Not all oils on the market are suitable for eating. If you are interested in the brand we use, Let us know. We’d be glad to share them with you.

 

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