Butrfly's Wonderings

Made these fantastic Lemon Squares this morning while thinking about my grand-Aunt Luella. Her most favorite gift to receive was a box of extremely tangy and tart lemon drops, not the sickly sweet kind but ones that tasted like fresh lemons. I used to give packages of them to her whenever I could.

Anyway, here's the recipe. I altered it a bit. I couldn't let all that lemon goodness go to waste after squeezing the juice from 5 large lemons so I scraped off all the zest and added it to the flour mixture in the food processor to give the crust a really strong lemon flavor too. Aunt Luella would have loved these!

Lemon Squares
This recipe comes from Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" magazine.
Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the center. Coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.
To make the crust: In a food processor, pulse the first four ingredients, flour through salt, a few times. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press the mixture into the bottom and 3/4-inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Refrigerate 15 minutes, then bake until the crust is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and lower heat to 325 degrees. Let the crust cool slightly in the pan while you make the filling.

To make the filling: In a bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until thick. Beat in granulated sugar, lemon juice, flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour over the warm crust and bake until set, about 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. If desired, sift an additional tablespoon or so of confectioners' sugar on top. Cut into squares and serve.