Lemon Fluff Refrigerator Bars: Family Fun Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends themed collaborations. Each month a group of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about his partnership is that it's not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may a recipe, sewing tutorial, crocheting, crafts project, book review, and/or technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is Family Fun Month.

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here's a peek at what we all came up with:

I made Lemon Fluff Bars.

Lemon Fluff Refrigerator Bars

Whenever I think of family fun this time of year, it brings back memories. Usually they include a day at the water, whether it's a pool or a sandy beach, cooling off is often a goal in the hot days of August. I grew up just a few hours drive from both the cool ocean waters of Cape Cod and Plum Island, as well as the fresh lakes of New Hampshire. Most weekends included trips to the beach, always ending with a cook out.

With the boys it was very different. We're land locked here with few lakes that are set up for swimming. Family fun when they were growing up included trips included vacations back home to Boston and/or New Hampshire, or, when at home, days spent at the private pool we belonged to, always ending with a cook out.

The thread running through all of these experiences was ending the day sitting on the deck with a cold drink and the grill heating up. And always, of course, there's dessert. Often I'd make something featuring either fresh fruits or citrus flavors. It was a bonus for me if the dessert were no bake, like the recipe I'm sharing today, so I could put it together in the morning and stick it in the fridge, spend the day with my family and come home knowing dessert would be ready. 

As I've been talking about pretty constantly on this blog, due to Hubs' dietary restrictions, most of my recipes are made with a lower fat content. You can make this recipe without doing that, just using the corresponding full fat ingredients you have at home or prefer to use. I would if I could.

As always, I start by pulling my ingredients together.

I separate the cookies from the center and beat the centers with the fluff (what we New Englanders call marshmallow creme) and cream cheese.

I crush the outer cookies and, reserving some for the center and the topping, use them to make the crust.

Once the jello and lemon juice have cooled a bit, I whisk in the evaporated milk, beat it and some of the reserved cookie crumbs into the cream cheese mixture,

pour into the shell, sprinkle with the rest of the reserved cookie crumbs, and it's ready for the refrigerator.

Once it's set, slice

and serve!

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:

 


Melissa of My Heartfelt Sentiments shares Family Fun.




 



Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Family Movie Night. 


 

Lemon Fluff Refrigerator Bars

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 box (.3 oz) sugar free lemon jello (can use lemon jello mix with sugar)
25 lemon sandwich cookies 
4 1/2 TBSP butter substitute (can use butter)
4 oz fat free cream cheese, softened (can use full fat cream cheese)
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
1 can (12 oz) fat free evaporated milk (can use full fat evaporated milk)

Directions:
*Heat the lemon juice in the microwave until hot. Whisk in the lemon jello mix and set aside.
*Lightly grease an 8 X 11 baking dish. Spray your spatula and beaters with nonstick cooking spray.
*Separate the filling from the cookies, putting the cookies into a food processor and the filling into a large bowl. Process the cookies until they're crumbs. Set aside 1/2 cup for the topping.
*Melt the butter substitute, add to the cookie crumbs, then press into and slightly up the sides of the baking dish. Refrigerate.
*Place the cream cheese and the marshmallow creme in the bowl with the cookie centers. Beat until smooth.
*Whisk the evaporated milk into the jello, add to the cream cheese mixture along with half of the reserved cookie crumbs and beat together. Pour evenly into the prepared crust, sprinkle with the remainder of the reserved cookie crumbs and refrigerate for at least an hour and a half.