There are few things in life that calm my head, take me away and allow me to fully decompress. Obviously running.  And I’ve also been known to craft a thing or two. But I also really love to whip things up in #themfdrekitchen (new page on recipes coming next week!)

I’ve followed this blog for years and was swooning with excitement to receive Deb’s cookbook for Christmas. Her recipes are ridiculous — seriously I want to be just like her in the kitchen — only me, but her.  Le Sigh. aaaand I digress per usual. 

Rather than read the umpteen thousand scripts I have that travel with me from work to the gym to work to home to the hair salon to work to the plane to anywhere I can find 5 seconds to read, I bailed on the scripts for a much-needed mental break. {and by the way I love love love pilot season, but seriously need more reading time in my day}

I scrounged around in the fridge to see what needed to be used and found some meyer lemons –aka the spontaneous “no reason” purchase at trader joes last week — and a remaining bag of fresh cranberries from this recipe.

Side Note: cranberries stay fresh for about 8 weeks with refrigeration, so I’m not a gross refrigerator-hoarder. {pinky prom}

And I came up with my own slightly modified version of Smitten Kitchen’s WHOLE Lemon Bars featured in her book — !!!yes!!!you use the WHOLE stinkin’ lemon!!

Cranberry Meyer Lemon Bars

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks

• 1 small-to-medium-sized lemon (about 4 1/2 ounces or 130 grams, or about 3 inches long)
• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt

{instagram: theMFDre}

Preheat the oven to 350F and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper.  Lightly grease with cooking spray and set aside.

In food processor,  combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse in butter chunks and stir until the mixture is crumbly and will stick together when squeezed in your hand.

Press it into the prepared pan to form an even crust. Prick the crust all over with a fork and then bake it for 20 minutes.

In a medium pot, combine 2 cups fresh cranberries and 1/2 cup water.  Simmer on medium until cranberries soften and begin to burst. Drain and set aside.

Now the lemon – this is where the directions get a little technical. If your lemon has more than 1/4 inch peel you should remove the peel from half the lemon and then cut it all into slices. Mine had a thin peel so I sliced it all up and removed the seeds.

Place the lemon slices into the food processor and add the sugar. Blend until the mixture is smooth and consistent – no lumps! Add the butter and eggs and process until it’s well mixed.  Add the corn starch and the salt and process briefly until combined.

Pour cranberries onto the partially baked crust and then top with lemon mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the edges are lightly brown and middle jiggles just a bit and top is slightly browned.

Cool completely (i.e. overnight) and slice them into small squares and sprinkle with as much powdered sugar as you like!

We ate these for breakfast.  Yes seriously.  Breakfast. With eggs on the side.  Something about it totally worked.  Also ate them for lunch with my Chinese Chicken Salad.  Just had one for a snack – lemon & cranberries – great antioxidants before my barre class – and oh, they’re probably my dinner/dessert too.

Sometimes you have to just live. and eat these.

{MF Dre}