Lemon Squares

These lemon squares are a little finicky, since my usual baking tricks don't work with them. Instead of making the same mistakes every Christmas, I'm going to write down the proper way to make them here.

This recipe is taken from Pam Collacott's first PamCooks book.

A big note: this recipe is for regular lemons. If using meyer lemons, use approximately four lemons' worth of zest. It will also likely take at least that many lemons to make the 1/2 cup of juice that you'll need. Also, reduce the amount of sugar in the filling by 1/4 cup.

2020 Update: I've tried this recipe a few times with Meyer lemons now, and just can't find success with it. It's sweet enough that it really needs the aggressive sourness of regular old lemons. If you wanted to try with Meyer lemons, maybe just use the zest, and then use regular lemon juice for the juice part. 

Base:
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup room temperature butter

Filling:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Grated zest of one large lemon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

Crumb together base ingredients. If doing this by hand, cream the butter and sugar together first, but if you're using a stand mixer, you can just beat the heck out of it and it'll all come together fine. 

Pack the crumb mixture down into a 9 by 13" greased non-stick pan. Do not line pan with parchment paper or anything else, since the filling will leak down into it. Greasing and flouring the bottom of the pan doesn't hurt though.

Par-bake filling for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.

Whisk eggs and sugar until light and airy. Add baking powder, zest, and lemon juice and stir to blend.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. When finished, let cool completely before cutting into bars.


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