Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Lemons


The picture is from Lemons, A Country Garden Cookbook
by Christopher Idone
****

I love lemons.
Lemons are always a part of each tea party I prepare.
Lemons are also a part of my everyday cooking.
Recently I bought a large bag of lemons and
then didn't use them as I normally would do.
Now I am thinking about lemon recipes to
use the lemons.
Friends have told me you can freeze lemon curd;
so there are two batches now in my freezer.
I wonder how long they will be there, yummm!
Then there were Lemon Verbena Cookies and
Lemon Chicken.
By now I decided I better refer to my favorite lemon cookbook
mentioned above. There are beautiful lemon pictures in the cookbook too. The best lemon recipes from Limoncello to Lemon Pizza are in the book.
Today I will make the Lemon Bars and share the recipe with you.
***
Lemon Bars
Crust:
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
38 tablespoons (3-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter,
cut into bits
Filling:
6 large eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Confectioners' sugar for dusting
**
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and salt. With a pastry blender cut the butter into the mixture until it is the consistency of cornmeal. Press dough into a baking sheet 17-inches by 12-inches by 1-inch. Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs until blended and beat in the sugar. Add the zest and gradually fold in the lemon juice. Sift the flour and baking powder into the egg mixture and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture over the crust and bake for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut into squares and dust with confectioners' sugar. Makes 4 dozen squares.
Enjoy!

9 comments:

Britt-Arnhild said...

I absolutely share your love for emons :-)

Steph said...

Mmmm! Let me know how the frozen lemon curd works

Annie Jeffries said...

Lemons are the best. I love lemon curd. buy it occasionally. Hummmm. Need to check your store and see if you have any.

Angela McRae said...

You know, I love lemons too and have wondered why we say things like "that car was a real lemon." That would be a good thing in my book!

Cathy said...

Hi Marilyn - My neighbor, Carrie Friedrich, met you at a wine tasting yesterday and told me about your blog. I'm very happy to meet another Portland blogger and am looking forward to browsing through your posts.

I hope you will stop by for a visit. There are many outstanding local bloggers. I'm so happy to add another name to my list.

Duchess of Tea said...

Oh! yummy, I love lemons and especially baked goods with lemon flavor, they just taste fresher. When I have lemons I don't know what to do with, I squueze them, place them in a glass jar, and put them in my freezer, they stay fresh for almost a year.
Duchess xx

La Tea Dah said...

During my student teaching days, a veteran teacher shared her recipe for lemon bars. She used it with her beginning "foods" classes --- at the beginning of the course. They were to make lemon bars from her recipe. Over and over again, they would prepare the lemon bars without reading the instructions, making one mass of lemon-blob. After that experience, they were then willing to read instructions and value them like they should. So, I suppose there is an object lesson in the lemon bar!

parTea lady said...

Like you, I love lemons and make my own lemon curd and lemonade. Lemon bars is also a favorite way I use lemons.

Funny, I don't like my tea with lemon though - I prefer it with milk.

paris parfait said...

I am mad for lemons! My favourite "comfort food" these days is lemon chicken. And almost anything with lemons makes me happy - even a big bowl of lemons to add cheeriness to the room.