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Appetites and Adventures

Protein Lemon Squares with Cheesecake Frosting [Recipe]

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Lemon squares are a totally normal thing.

Until I get ahold of them.

Vegas and I absconded from our citrus-picking adventure last weekend with a few samples.  Lemons, oranges, and sweet lemons.  Yes, sweet lemons are a thing.  No, it’s not just a Meyer lemon.  They’re so sweet you can sit down and eat a whole one!  Strange and incredibly good.  The bright citrus flavor is perfect for spring.

I immediately wanted to bake a treat using the sweet lemons.  If you don’t have sweet lemons, simply add more sugar (think lemonade).  Also of note is the coconut flour.  It makes these incredibly moist (that’s right – I said it); reminiscent of lemon bars.

Protein Lemon Bars with frosting

If you know me, you know I’m always hunting for more protein.  I eat a ton of meat.  In effort to balance that, I try to incorporate plant-based choices wherever possible.  One way I did that here was using Silk® Soy Milk.

I actually prefer the taste to cow’s milk, and it has 6 grams of heart-healthy protein per serving.  Since it’s plant-based, soy milk is naturally cholesterol free and low in saturated fat.  Those are great stats whether you’re down with meat or not!  Check out their website for a coupon.

Silk

It’s also good in coffee!

The frosting is optional, but not really.  I have been using this cheesecake flavoring for years.  It’s worth an order!  Actually, all of their flavors I’ve tried have been good.  If you don’t have it, you could use vanilla extract.  Don’t skip the coconut flour though!  It makes it more cheesecake-y (try it and you’ll see what I mean).

These are especially good with coffee for breakfast in the spring sunshine.  We’ll be doing this again for Easter brunch on Sunday!

Protein Lemon Bars

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

 

Protein Lemon Bars with Cheesecake Frosting

Protein Lemon Squares

  • 1/2 C soy milk
  • 1/2 C lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup 0% Greek yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Zest one lemon
  • 1/2 cup spelt flour (70g)
  • 1/4 C coconut flour (30g)
  • 1/4 C vanilla protein powder (62g) (I use Growing Naturals Rice Protein)
  • 1/4 C Xylitol or sweetener of choice (48g)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Lemon Cheesecake Frosting

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease tins. 

In a bowl, whisk the first 5 ingredients. In a separate bowl, stir together zest and dry ingredients. Pour wet into dry, and stir just until mixed.

Pour batter into tins, and bake 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of bar comes out clean.  Let cool before removing from tins. 

Meanwhile, mix together frosting ingredients.  Be careful not to add too much cheesecake flavoring – it’s very concentrated!  If you don’t have it on hand, you could use 1/2 tsp vanilla or replace the Greek yogurt with cream cheese.

Wait for bars to cool before adding frosting.

Makes 10 squares.*

*I used this Calphalon Bar Pan.  You could also use a mini muffin tin.

How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.

Sprint 2 the Table

 

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂



***

I can’t believe it’s already April.  We’ve been in San Diego nearly a month!  Time flies when you’re having fun!

Do you make Easter brunch?

What is your favorite type of milk?

Comments

  1. Love the Silk almond milk, especially the unsweetened vanilla version! I’m go out for Easter brunch but I kinda wanna make my way to your home- am such a sucker for anything cheesecake-esque!

  2. I love Silk almond milk and I’m with you on eating all.the.meat and needing some balance! Those bars look amazing. I’m having coffee right now and if I could only reach through the screen…

  3. Oh goodness! Sweet lemons are a thing!?! Thank you for the public service announcement!!

    I love LorAnn flavors, but my favorite is pralines and cream. Have you tried it? They have one that’s just praline, but I have yet to try it, because hello, why praline when you can praline AND cream?? I make a sweet sauce (almost every day) with pb2, sugar free syrup and water to thin it, a few toffee and vanilla stevia drops, and the pralines and cream flavor. Omg… It’s good on so many things! …waffles, apples, baked winter squash, oats, etc.

  4. Thank you for making a southern staple something that can actually work for us. That said, I do like my party trick of 5 minute microwave lemon curd…. Eh, I’ll give it up for the time being!

  5. Silk is my favorite! I need to partner myself with them one of these days. I seriously use it for everything I make. This recipe is a winner. I was just thinking about lemon coconut Paleo muffins the other day. Last week I made orange almond. They were so good!

  6. I always hated lemon until a few months ago…it’s growing on me! This looks like one I’ll have to try. Although if you could also send some of that “spring sunshine” you mention to go along with them…well, that’d be great!

  9. I love anything with lemon in it, especially pairing it with the word cheesecake! Mine probably won’t be as pretty but I definitely want to try making those! I have a list going of all the Sprint2thetable recipes I want to make! 🙂

  11. I’ve only recently accepted lemon-flavoured treats myself. Until about six months ago, I was purely about chocolate! Now I have a whole new world of flavour to explore…. oh boy.

    • I’m still strictly chocolate for dessert, but lemon I can definitely do for breakfast or a snack.

    • Thanks Heather! I can’t believe we haven’t all gotten together yet… must do it soon!

  14. well you know we loooove this lemon goodness. Do you have a lemon tree yet? You need one. Then we can open a lemonade bar! haha.

    p.s. frosting is NEVER optional

  15. Hi Laura! LOVE the sound of these. And I tend to drink almond or cashew milk as of late, but do like the taste of soy. And you can’t beat the protein in it. Great recipe! Happy weekend to you! Hope you get outside to enjoy the sunshine in SD! 🙂

    • Thanks! I alternate between all 3. I recently tried that cashew milk and loved it too!

Trackbacks

  1. […] we’ve been trying, I’ve also loved all the produce.  Citrus is amazing here!  These protein lemon squares didn’t last long in my kitchen… but the cookies I’m sharing today disappeared […]

  2. […] Protein Lemon Squares by Laura at Sprint to the Table […]

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