Lemon Mascarpone Bars

As I've said before, I am a fan of non-traditional (i.e. non-chocolate) desserts. When my husband and I were in Vegas recently, I had the most fantastic dessert at Bartolotta, an Italian restaurant in the Wynn. It was an olive-oil lemon cake, topped with a honey tuile and a scoop of rosemary gelato. That is my kind of dessert! Savory and sweet. Yum!


This dessert has a lot of the same flavors (excepting the rosemary). It's sort of a mix between a cookie and a cake. I used dark brown sugar, which gives the dessert a more complex molasses-like flavor. To punch up the lemon, you could use lemon extract instead of vanilla.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. butter (1 stick), melted and cooled slightly
• 1 C. brown sugar (I used dark)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (or lemon extract)
• 8 oz. mascarpone cheese
• juice and zest of one lemon
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 C. AP flour

Directions:

Mix the melted butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Add the egg, vanilla extract, lemon juice, lemon zest, and mascarpone cheese and mix completely. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour. Mix until combined. Pour into a greased 8x8 baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 350, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 12 pieces and serve.

You could easily double this recipe and make it in a 9x13 pan. Add about 10-15 minutes to the baking time.