“The Best Lemon Squares”

The cookbook that this recipe is from is called The Sono Baking Company Cookbook by John Barriceli. It is a really diverse book which I really like, although I havent really taken advantage of that. It has a lot of relaly great pictures, which is a must when buying a cookbook. Honestly, I dont know why you would waste the time publishing a cookbook with no pictures unless you are Betty Crocker, which you’re probably not.

From The Sono Baking Company Cookbook

Ingredients:

Crust

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup toasted wheat germ (it sounds weird, but you can find it near the oatmeal at the grocery store)
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1 1/4 cups cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

Filling

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbs Sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbs lemon zest
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 large eggs, at room temp
1 egg yolk, at room temp

Directions

1. Coat a 9×13 in glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or butter
2. For crust: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, wheat germ, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Add the butter, using your fingers work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mix resembles coarse crumbs. Make sure the butter is broken into small pieces.
3. Press the “dough” over the bottom of the pan and slightly up the sides of it. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. While the dough is in the fridge, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Then cook for 15-17 minutes until it turns an even blonde color and cooked evenly. Take out and set aside. Keep oven on.
5. For filling: In a large bowl, whisk the sugar with the flour and salt. Add the lemon juice and zest, and almond extract.Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Pour over the warm crust.
6. Bake the bars until the filling sets and the very center still jiggles slightly, 18-20 minutes
7. Cool completely, then sprinkle with powdered sugar, then cut into squares.

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