Gilmore Girl's Inspired Recipes

Laughter and excitement is in the air at  The Yellow Mug Café in North East Fresno, now transformed into a Pop-Up of Luke’s Diner. It is 7:19am.  The line is very long, with lots of gals in their thirties wearing plaid and scarves and knit hats, as if Fresno is actually a cold place to live like in The Gilmore Girls, which it is not. I overheard an eager crowd of gals say, “I’ve never actually spent the night in line before, but for this it was worth it.” There’s no way my son, who coincidentally his nickname is Luke is going to step near the line, he doesn’t want to be late for school. 7:55am, I text my daughter the news of Gilmore Girls kinda coming to Fresno and she is elated, but a bit perplexed, “what is The Yellow Mug Café, she asks?”

If you’re a fan of Gilmore Girls, you know what all the fuss is about. As Lorelai Gilmore (another coincidence, that’s my daughter’s nickname), “Coffee, coffee, coffee”.  So Netflix who shows the Gilmore Girls has transformed over 200 coffee shops around the United States into pop-up Luke’s Diners to celebrate the show’s 16^th anniversary.

After the coffee, and the excitement, you might want to make some Gilmore Girl’s inspired treats.

Café Luke’s Round Cookies

1 stick of real butter, softened

1/8 cup of sugar, granulated

1 cup of all-purpose flour

½ cup of Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips

Powdered Sugar

1/16 cup of peanuts or almonds

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in a medium sized bowl with an electric mixer at low to medium speed. Gradually add the flour and chocolate chips and then combine with hands. If dough is dry or crumbly, add a little bit of water. Spray your hands with cooking spray or add a little flour if dough is too sticky and is sticking to your hands. Using the palm of your hands, roll rounded Tablespoonful’s of dough into 1-inch balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet for 13 minutes approximately. Let stand 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheet and after cooled roll in powdered sugar. The color of the cookies will be pale not golden brown. If not allergic to nuts, may add crushed almonds or pulverized peanuts.

 Coconut Lemon Crumb Squares

1 ¾ cups of Graham cracker crumbs

½ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup margarine, melted

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup of coconut              

Filling

½ cup of granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup of lemon juice, plus ¼ tsp. of lemon rind

½ coconut

Directions: Melt the margarine and pour over the first ingredients. Combine in a large bowl and work together until crumbly. Press the mixture into an ungreased 9x9 inch pan and set aside.

Next, place filling ingredients in a pot on low heat, stirring until thickened. Pour filling over bottom layer. Cook for 25 minutes in a 350 degree over. Depending on the size you cut for the squares, makes approximately 30 squares.