Ingredient in Focus: Cultured Buttermilk

Whenever I run across an ingredient that seems to make

my life easier I feel compelled to share it. I know what you are thinking, 'It's a can of cultured buttermilk... that makes your life easier?!' yeah it does.

Its always good to have a nice repertoire of recipes. By 'repertoire', I mean recipes you can almost make without looking at the actual recipe.... a recipe you can make at the last minute because you have the ingredients on hand nearly all the time...., and its a recipe you KNOW that everybody loves!

Among my repertoire of desserts and baked goods to bring to parties or prepare for guests are a few recipes that include Buttermilk. It really does effect the taste considerably in things like buttermilk pancakes, banana bread, and cakes. This is an ingredient that goes bad quickly and I never use the whole carton, so I end up throwing the rest out. So...enter can of cultured buttermilk!!!

This bad boy has a shelf life of something like 2 years?! You keep it in the refrigerator and all you have to do is add water. You don't even have to premix the powder with water. Simply add the water and the powder with the rest of your ingredients and it all mixes together and somehow it tastes just like buttermilk when its all done.

So, In honor of this ingredient, I share with you one from my repertoire....

Ms. Lemons' Lemons Bars

(from William Sonoma's Weeknight Cookbook)

Crust:

6 Tablespoons of unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1/4 Cup Sugar

2/3 Cup Flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

To make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8" square baking pan. In a standing electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the flour and salt, mixing on low, until blended. The dough will look crumbly.

Transfer the dough to the pan and press it down evenly into the bottom of the pan. bake until the crust is golden brown, about 15-18 minutes.

The Filling:

2 Eggs

2/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Flour

1 Tablespoon finely grated Lemon Zest

1/3 Cup Lemon Juice

1/2 Cup Buttermilk

In the same standing mixer (no need to clean), using the whisk attachment, bead the eggs and sugar on medium speed until well blended. Add the flour, lemon zest,lemon juice, and buttermilk and beat until smooth. Pour filling over crust.

Bake bars until the filling is set and barely browned on edges, 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting and serving. Dust with powdered confectioner's sugar and serve.

And I would have a picture of the finished product..... but I brought them to Kingdom Living last night, and they were all gone by the time I thought to grab my camera..... so I guess I'll keep this one in my "Repertoire"....