Besides chocolate and toffee, what is like the best flavor around? Lemon. Lemon perfection is amazing, but so hard to get to. Take this recipe for example: these lemon squares have a yummy, flaky, shortbread crust, and a sweet, lemony curd, but I think they're too eggy. That may just be that I am like the most picky egg-eater in the world, a trait I inherited from my mom. Also I don't typically eat any eggs at all, so the taste pops out for me. My sister calls me the egg cop, because if I can taste the tiniest bit of egg when I'm not supposed to be tasting it, it's a nuh-uh. With this recipe, though, the eggy taste I picked out was very slight, and my family couldn't taste it at all. But just a warning, if you're like me, add more lemon juice to the liquid mixture and then taste test the lemon mixture to perfection. You can also do that if you just really like lemon. I got this recipe at a bake sale.
Notice the thick, shortbread crust. That part is delicious.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups + 3 Tbsp. flour
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt (any kind)
- 2 sticks butter (salted or unsalted)
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 6 eggs
- 3/4 cup- 1 1/4 cup lemon juice
- Food Processor w/ blade attachment
2. Put 2 cups of the flour, powdered sugar and 1/4 tsp. of salt in the food processor bowl (make sure blade attachment is already in there).
3. Cut the butter pieces up into about 1/8ths (more or less) and sprinkle them over the top of the flour mixture in the food processor. Pulse this combination for 20 or so pulses, or just until you think the butter is mixed in and the dough has formed.
4. Dump the dough into the prepared pan and press it flat and even with your hands. Put it in the oven. (You can reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F if you want the crust a little doughier, but I don't usually do that.)
5. While the crust bakes, mix the rest of the flour, the rest of the salt, the sugar, and the eggs in a medium bowl with a whisk for a while, until you think it is mixed in well enough.
6. Add the 3/4 of lemon juice first, taste it, and if you think its good, leave it. If you want more lemon, just keep adding, mixing, and tasting till you think it's right.
7. When the crust comes out, pour the lemon curd over the hot crust and put it back into the oven. If you reduced the temperature for the crust, put it back at 350 degrees F. Bake the bars till you think they're ready, or if you want a specific time, maybe 25 to 35 minutes.
8. Take the lemon bars out and cut them into squares. You can cut when the bars are still hot, or while they're cool; it doesn't matter. (Sometimes I cut them into triangles, just for fun.) You can also sprinkle powdered sugar over the top to make them look fancy. Sometimes I do that, but it doesn't make a difference.
Ta Da! Your squares are ready! Yea!
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