Lovely Lemon Squares

I've always been a lover of lemon squares, but I've never tried making them myself before... that is, until I bought this cookbook, which finally convinced me to take the plunge. And I'm so glad I did!

My brother, his girlfriend and I all made these together as the final note to a lovely Mother's Day dinner. And they were delicious indeed!

To all the mothers and mothers-to-be out there, I hope someone did something special for you today. 

                  

Or maybe you should do something special for yourself.... like make these lemon squares!

Read on for the recipe...

Perfect Lemon Squares
(From the Sono Baking Company Cookbook)

Crust

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup toasted wheat germ

1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

3/4 tsp coarse salt

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter - cold & chopped into pieces

Filling

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup lemon juice (about 5 lemons)

3/4 Tablespoon lemon zest (the original recipe asks for a full tablespoon, but I think that's a bit too much)

1/2 tsp almond extract

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 egg yolk

+ confectioners' sugar for dusting

1. grease a 9x13 inch baking dish & preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. For the crust: whisk together the flour, wheat germ, salt & confectioners sugar. Then add the butter. Use your fingers or a pastry blender to mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. You don't want any chunks of better left! Then press the dough into the baking pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes (until it is a nice blond colour, and cooked through & crisp).

3. To make the filling: whisk the sugar, flour and salt together. Then add the lemon zest, lemon juice and almond extract. Then whisk in the eggs and extra yolk. Poor the well-mixed filling over the warm crust.

4. Bake the bars for 20 minutes, until the filling is set but still jiggles at bit in the centre.

5. Allow to cool completely in the the pan, then dust with icing sugar and cut into squares. Enjoy!