Michele's Hearth and Home: Lemonies...Splenda Style

One of my Facebook friends (Dana Lucas Cipolla) posted a delicious-looking recipe yesterday for Lemon Brownies. There were quite a few humorous responses because many folks protested that 'brownies' referred to the chocolate in them and the color as opposed to the texture. I did a little research and found out that the definition of a brownie is:
1. a member of the Girl Scouts from age 6-8
2. a small square of a rich, moist cake, usually made with chocolate and nuts
3. a small sprite, thought to do good works
4. a brown trout
5. something cool, hip, or awesome.
I'm going with #5 for these Lemonies, as I am calling them! (Some people called them 'yellowies' but that sounds like yellow snow and we know where that is going...)

I changed up the recipe a bit since we are both watching our 'sugar' intake. I know, some of you are rolling your eyes at the 'Splenda' tag but seriously...this is good stuff for some things! (I couldn't do this with our other favorite sweet, organic Blue Agave nectar...it wouldn't work)

Here's what I did...

pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

grease a 10" round pan with butter-I sprayed Canola spray (well, you're supposed to use an 8"x8" square, but I have one packed away in the garage...somewhere)

Beat a couple of eggs together and put aside
Mix in a separate bowl 3/4 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of salt
Zest and juice two lemons and set aside
soften 1 cube of unsalted butter (1 stick)

put the softened butter and 3/4 cup of Splenda in a mixer and blend.
Add the flour/salt mixture to the butter/ Splenda mix and blend

Add the lemon zest/lemon juice to the egg mix and blend well.

Add the lemon/zest/eggs mixture to the flour/salt/sugar/butter and blend together for at least 2 minutes, maybe more, until it is very smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the blender/mixer as you go.

Pour the smooth mixture (use a rubber spatula scraper to get every bit of goodness!) into the greased pan.

Put the greased pan into the oven for 20 minutes. Watch it carefully- don't let it overbake. The edges should be brown. Pull it out of the oven and cool completely. I know, is smells freakin' amazing! Hold off!! Let it cool!