Lemon Squares

   A few weeks back 'twas my birthday and we had a little shin-dig for it! I had a friends daughter making me a cake (she's 10 years old and asked if she could make my cake for me! Such a sweet girl!) So, even though I had a cake coming, I still love baking and trying new things, so I knew I would be making some extra treats for the par-tah (like these s'more clusters!) and I suddenly had the urge to make lemon squares! I literally had no clue how they were made, so I Googled "easiest lemon bar recipe", and got a result from Rock Recipes for Super Easy Lemon Bars, and they weren't joking around! These amazingly delightful squares are so gosh-darned simple to make, and only require 5 ingredients! Ok, 6 including the icing sugar to dust on top, but still, 6 ingredients is pretty good!

​   I hope you'll make these squares, and check out Rock Recipes (the author is a fellow Canadian!). It is a blog is full of amazing recipes!  

Lemon Squares
From Rock Recipes 

Ingredients:

For the shortbread base:

• 1 cup cold butter, cut in 1 inch cubes
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cups flour

For the layer of lemony goodness:

• 1½ cups sugar
• ¼ cup flour
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 Cup lemon juice (or the juice from 2-3 fresh lemons)
• Lemon zest (if using real lemons)

Method:

Shortbread base

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease and parchment paper line a 9x13 baking pan. Set aside 
2. Using a pastry cutter, a food processor, 2 knives, or your own chilled hands, blend together the butter sugar and flour
3. Press the shortbread into the bottom of the prepared baking dish and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. You want this base to just be oh-so-slightly brown at the top edges of the crust (check the base at the 15 minute mark, in case your oven runs hot)

....while that is baking.....

Lemon layer:

1. Whisk (by hand or with an electric hand mixer) the sugar, flour, eggs, and lemon juice (& zest, if using) until the sugar is dissolved
2. Now, leave this lemon mixture to sit for 10 minutes! Do it.....go to the bathroom, check your Facebook, look up yummy things on Pinterest, then come back :)  After about 10 minutes, whisk together again (really well) and pour over the baked shortbread base
3. Bake at 350 degrees for another 20- 25 minutes or until the top is slightly browned and the lemon appears to be set (gently wiggle the pan to see how jiggly it still is. It should have some wiggle, but not be goopy) 
4. Once done, remove from oven and cool completely before trying to cut into squares
5. Dust with icing sugar when cool, and (if bringing to a party or get-together) serve the squares in muffin cups that have been cut in half (this keeps people from touching all of them when reaching for one, and it keeps them from smooshing into each other. See the lovely liners I used in the photo below

   So easy, right? And seriously, unreal delicious! I brought the few remaining squares I had to an art show I was doing the day after my party, and one lady said that the squares were better then the (slightly expensive) ones she bought from a lovely bakery downtown. I told her, "I just Googled 'easiest lemon bar recipe', and this recipe came up!" She could hardly believe it!   

   Ok, randomly, my fingers crack A LOT! All the time, no matter the season! I think it's because I wash my dishes in crazy hot water (kills more germs, and they dry really fast!).....but, all that to say....it makes typing really freakin' hard! :( Boo hoo for me! Seriously, I'm having to type with only the middle finger of my right hand, and the pointer and middle finger on my left hand. My number of words per minute typing is at an all time low!!! Woe is me! Ok, I'm done whining.....

   I hope everyone had a great week, and has some plans for the weekend! My husbands plans are to be on his weekend of night shifts, and for us to tiptoe around the house so as to not wake him! Whomp whomp! Our usual Saturday thing is to go to the dump (we gotta bring our own, no pick up for us in the sticks!), and go to the library. It's supposed to be ok weather tomorrow too, so we'll probably go for a little nature walk. Going for walks around our place in the fall is so nice. So very nice. 

   Alright, I'm signing off! 

​xo