Lemon Squares

Hey lovelies! Happy February and 2014 <3 It really is sad that one of my resolutions is to blog more yet it took me until February 1st to write another post. My blogmas posts were such an amazing challenge and I love some of them so much. 

Since it is a new year and a new month, I thought I would post 14 days of love, until Valentine's Day. The posts might be much simpler than the blogmas though (hard to imagine, right?)

After getting on the subject with lemon squares with my family, I told them that I could make them from scratch. Mistake number one. My dad took that as "I will gladly make homemade lemon squares so you can try ones not made from the box." Although I wasn't in the mood to make them, I pulled it together and whipped them up. They are honestly so insanely easy to make that I didn't mind it at all.

I've made homemade lemon squares only once before. I was a sophomore at university and my test subjects were the boys I lived with 85% of the time. Needless to say, my first attempt at lemon squares were not met with a picky crowd and thus deemed "good".

I followed this recipe almost exactly, but I will put my modified recipe and directions at the end of the post:)

I was a little skeptical reading the reviews and struggled whether or not I should have doubled the filling, but in the end I didn't and was happy with the result. Personally, I think the original lemon to crust ratio is nicely proportionate and doesn't need to be doubled..

The ingredients. Yep, this is pretty much everything you need to make lemon bars.

So first, you need to make the crust which is pretty much just shortbread. Combine 1 c. butter (softened), 2 c. flour, and 1/2 c granulated sugar. I also put in about 1 tsp of vanilla extract too, because why not?

Then mix it all together. I got tired of the hand mixer just pushing some of the dry ingredients around instead of combining it with the butter so I mixed it with my hands.

Then you press the mixture into a 9x13 baking pan. 

I sprayed the glass baking dish with a little bit of baking PAM just for good measure because the crust seemed a little dry and I didn't think it would come out of the pan easily. I was really glad I did this cause it definitely helped later.

Put the crust in an oven that is preheated to 350F for 15-20 minutes. When it's done, just take it out of the oven and put it off to the side.

In the meantime, mix up the lemon filling. Whisk together 1.5 c. granulated sugar and 1/4 c of flour.

Then add your 4 eggs. 

You can whisk them in now (like I did) or you can wait until you add all the liquids before you whisk.

Next, I added the zest of a lemon.

After you do that, it's time to juice your lemons! I don't have a lemon juicer so I just cut two lemons in half and squeezed the living daylights out of them until they were out of juice.

I would recommend squeezing them over a cup or small bowl so you can catch the seeds. Otherwise you'll be picking them out of your batter for a while.

Time to bake them again! Pour the lemon mixture over the crust and pop the dish back into the oven for another 20 minutes.

They look like this when they come out of the oven and are cooled.

I highly recommend letting them cool and chill before eating them because I had a warm lemon square once due to impatience and I thought it was disgusting.

Because my family is SUPER impatient, I let them cool on the stove top for a few minutes before popping them in the fridge. Then when the fridge wasn't fast enough, (and the bottom was only lukewarm instead of burning) I popped them in the freezer until they were chilled (NOT frozen).

Sprinkle with powder sugar and enjoy! (I wouldn't sprinkle the whole pan like this unless you plan to eat them all in one go. The lemon filling pretty much absorbs the sugar overnight leaving you with bare lemon squares once again.

Enjoy them fully!

Lemon Squares

Yield: 9x13 inch pan (About 20 bars, depending on size)

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Filling

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 lemons, juiced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. 
3. Grease or Pam the bottom of of an 9x13 inch pan or glass baking dish. Press crust into bottom of the pan
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. 
5. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Pour over the baked crust.
6. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Then wait for them to cool. (The cooler they are, the better they taste). Cut into squares, dust with powdered sugar, and serve. Store in refrigerator for best results.

I hope you enjoy these, lovies! Make them and spread the love.

Let me know if you make these and how they turn out :) Use less lemon juice if you don't want them as tart.

love always,

xo