Lemon Bars

Obviously after the red velvet cake fiasco, I've been feeling a little glum about my baking skills. So I signed up for a series of free baking classes at Williams-Sonoma and plan to combat this insecurity by increasing my baking frequency. Good for my coworkers, bad for my waistline. Heading to the gym when this post is finished, in fact.

I was skimming my Southern Living yesterday morning and saw this recipe. I thought that was a good place to get back on the horse, so to speak, and since we were having salmon with steamed green beans and white wine for dinner--lemon bars sounded like the perfect dessert. I was thrilled these turned out so well! I used Sugar in the Raw, which is kind of brownish instead of white, so they aren't as yellow as they may have been otherwise. But taste delicious. Bobby said he'd never had lemon bars that didn't come out of a box before. I didn't know they came in a box...? But I thought it was pretty funny when he was like "They're good! how do you get them to taste like lemons?" to which my response was "Umm...I used lemons?"

Lemon Bars

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I just squeezed the whole lemon, not sure how much that amounted to)
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom of a 9 x 13 Pyrex with heavy duty foil or parchment paper and PAM it. Mom, is parchment paper like wax paper? They talked a lot about it at Williams Sonoma this morning, but I was afraid to ask questions. Make sure the foil extends over the ends of the dish to lift it out later.

Stir together 2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or fork. I didn't have the former, so I tried using a dinner fork, but that sucked. So I just used a whisk from my old stand mixer (pre-KitchenAid), and that got the job done. Once it's crumbly, press firmly into the bottom of the dish and bake for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs until they're smooth, and then whisk in the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Lastly, add the additional 4th of a cup of flour and the baking powder. When the crust is brown, pour mixture evenly over the top, and then bake another 25 minutes.

Let it cool in the pan for 30 minutes, and then use the sides of the foil to lift. Gently pull the foil away from the sides of the bars. Sprinkle the tops with additional powdered sugar and cut evenly.

SO good! Between these and my cookie class I'm feeling a little better. Bring on Naynie's cake at the end of the week!

Also--had a really good panini this week: Sourdough bread with bacon, white cheddar cheese, and Granny Smith apple slices. Very tasty.