At some point last June we purchased a big bag of Lemons from our local warehouse store. Fast forward a couple of weeks and it was time I needed to do something with them. But, it was a huge bag of lemons! What to do?
For preserving the lemons I decided to zest and juice them. Both the zest and juice can be easily frozen. The trick is remembering to use them!
I
zested the lemons and divided the zest up into 1 tablespoon mounds on a cutting board covered in plastic wrap. I covered the zest mounds again and froze them on the cutting board in the freezer.
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| Lemons - Zesting |
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| Lemons - Zest spit into Tablespoon Mounds for the Freezer |
I split the juice into 1/2 cup packets for the freezer.
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| Lemons - Lemon Juice |
Meanwhile, all this work deserved some kitchen joy as well.
Lemon Squares were the order of the day. I looked on line at my favourite sites and settled on
this recipe.
For the crust I added 3/4 cup of Sifted All-Purpose Flour, 1/3 cup of Sifted Icing Sugar, 1/4 Cup of Sifted Corn Starch, 1/4 Teaspoon of Salt and 1/2 cup of Unsalted Butter Cubes into a
bowl.
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| Lemon Squares - Preparing the Base |
Using a
pastry blender I cut the butter into the mixture until the mixture looked like course crumbles.
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| Lemon Squares - The Base |
I put the mixture in a parchment lined
pan and pressed it into the corners and ensured the base was flat. I put the pan in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes. Then, off to a 325˚ oven for about 20 minutes and then let it cool.
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| Lemon Squares - The Base in the Pan |
While the base was cooling: In a bowl I added 4 Large Eggs, 1 Cup of Sugar and
mixed them until thick and frothy, about 5 minutes. Next I added 2/3 cup of Fresh Lemon Juice, 1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour, 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder and 1/2 Teaspoon of salt and mixed everything well.
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| Lemon Squares - Mixing The filling |
I carefully poured the filling over the slightly cooled base and it was back to the oven again for 20 minutes.
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| Lemon Squares - Ready for the Pan |
Out of the oven I let the
pan cool fully.
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| Lemon Squares - Cooling from the Oven |
Sadly it was late at night so the pan cooled over night. In the morning I cut the baked and cooled lemon squares into 16 pieces, sprinkled with icing sugar and sent them off to work. It was early in the morning when I did this and I missed taking a final glory shot. Reports were that they were great!
Bakers Notes:
- Don't forget to chill the crust. An important step!
- Use fresh lemon juice otherwise avoid this recipe
- Pretty quick and easy
