Luscious Lemon Squares

Spring is almost here! I cannot believe how quickly the past few months have flown by, but with the start of March comes the anticipation and excitement of warmer days and cooking with spring and summer fruits and vegetables again!

To kick off March, Helen Koval from Helen's Cooking was kind enough to ask me to be her blogger of the week.  I was so excited and honored, but I had no idea what I wanted to make for this post.  After much deliberation, it came to me! Lemon Squares! I absolutely love cooking with Lemons, and if I did not live in New England, you can bet I would have a lemon tree in my back yard! There is just something about lemons.  They always add that something extra to my dishes and even when they are the focus of a dish, they can be quite tasty.  Plus, my husband has been hounding me for awhile now to make him his lemon squares again, so I figured it was about time! :)

Luscious Lemon Squares 

Ingredients

For the Crust:

-1 ½ cups flour

-1/2 cup confectionery sugar (plus extra for sprinkling at the end)

-1/4 cup cornstarch

-12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, diced and cold 

-Pinch of salt

For the Filling:

-4 eggs

-1 ½ cup sugar

-1/4 cup flour

-2/3 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

-Zest of 1 lemon 

-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

-Pinch of salt

Directions:

Lightly grease a baking pan and then line it with parchment paper.  Grease the parchment paper as well.  This will help in the end when you are trying to remove the lemon squares.  The parchment paper hanging over the ends will act as your handles.  Set aside.

In a food processor (or mixing bowl), combine the flour, sugar, cornstarch, and a little salt.  Then, mix in the butter until the dough begins to crumble up.  If you have a food processor, this process will be very easy and the dough will form right away for you.  If mixing, it will just take a little longer for the dough to begin to form since the butter is cold.

Take the dough and use your hands to spread and press it down into your greased baking ban.  Once you have evenly spread and pressed down the dough, let it chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

After being chilled, bake the crust in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned and set.  Remove the pan from the oven and reduce the temperature down to 325 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar. Add the flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, baking powder, and pinch of salt.  Once the mixture is all combined, pour it over the crust and return to the oven.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the lemon mixture has set.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.  Using the parchment paper, lift the whole square from the pan.  Sprinkle  confectionery sugar over the top and slice into squares.  Make sure to wipe the knife in between cutting so that the slices stay nice and smooth.

Once cut, dig in and enjoy!

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