Sanctuary from The Mad World
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch. - Orson Welles

The picture at My Kind of Food was calling me.  It was like sunshine captured in one lemony, delicious bar.  And there is something to the words "lemon squares".  I had to make it.  

It took me a while because I’m rather traumatic by anything involving making a crust (the reason I’ve not attempted Quiche Lorraine, an eternal favourite, until now).  But this recipe is easy to follow.  The result was deeply satisfying as refreshing summer dessert.  The tangy flavour also suits my husband who doesn’t have a sweet tooth.  The texture was enticing:  soft, crumbly, neutral biscuit (I managed, yay!) alternates with creamy lemon.  I polished two bars right on the kitchen counter while ‘checking out’ the result. 

Thanks Hungry Gal.  Now I too have something more exciting to bring to dinner parties than my usual Lemon Pound Cake. 

Recipe is verbatim from My Kind of Food (except for those in bold which I tweaked to my taste).

Ingredients:

1 cup flour less 2 tbsp
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cornmeal or crushed pistachios
4 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 cup butter (113 g) (I used really cold butter, straight from the freezer, resulting in firmer biscuit)
3 whole egg
3 egg yolk
1 1/3 cups sugar (I used 2/3 cups only)
4 tbsp 35% cream
Juice of 1 large lemon
Zest from 1 large lemon
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F (170 C) and butter and line the bottom of a 8 x 8-inch baking pan (20.5 x 20.5 cm) with parchment paper
Combine flour, salt, cornmeal (crushed pistachios) and icing sugar.  Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the dough is crumbly.
Press dough into pan, trying to ensure the crust is even throughout. Bake crust for about 18 minutes until the edges look golden. Set crust aside to cool.

Whisk the together the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, cream, juice, zest and baking powder until smooth. Carefully pour the filling into the cooled crust.

Bake for approximately 25 (or 30 in my case) minutes until set (the top will be slightly golden - do not overcook).  Cool at room temperature then chill in the fridge.  Cut into squares and dust with icing sugar.

After thoughts:

To ensure the perfect sweet-sour flavour, I advise you to whisk the sugar, cream, and lemon juice first and adjust the taste accordingly as it is difficult to say how much lemon juice should be used due to the different size of lemons and individual taste.  Once, I had to use 2 lemons to achieve the concentrated lemonade taste for the same amount of sugar - 2/3 cups).