Lemon Squares!
I make Lemon Squares twice a year; once at Thanksgiving and once more at Christmas. My house smells of Lemon Squares right now and boy oh boy it is getting me even more excited for Thanksgiving. I've been making Lemon Squares for at least the last 16 years (if not longer). Seeming as how I'm 30 years old now...you can imagine how many sticks of butter that has been! I used to go bake-crazy around the holidays. Seriously, I would make batches and batches of cookies like non-stop from Thanksgiving all the way through Christmas Day. Snickerdoodles are still my favorite -- there is something about how they are FRESH and HOT from the oven. HHhhmm. I would like to make Chocolate Crinkles as well although admittedly they weren't as tasty as Snickerdoodles. And of course, Russian Tea Cakes (aka Mexican Wedding Cookies). My dad just LOVES those, he can eat a whole batch (one batch yields 60 cookies) in one sitting. I remember years where I would make at least 4 batches of Russian Tea Cakes.
I was talking with Shawn today at work about how your perspective of holidays change as you get older. We decided that the holidays are so much more exciting as adults; you appreciate them more because you don't have as much time to yourself it seems. As a kid admit it--Thanksgiving kind of sucks. You don't get any presents, there isn't any fun music to listen to, there is no candy, and all you do is sit around the small table at Grandma's house and eat turkey with your cousins. Not exciting. As an adult, Thanksgiving is about gossiping and getting to talk to your now "cool" older relatives and realizing -- "hey, I'm an adult now, this is fun".
Not much has happened since. I mean, work has been busier than ever. Getting my boss ready for her maternity leave, still transitioning knowledge to people, catching up with research, and at the same time planning events for April 2007...aaaaahhhhh! The weather here in Seattle has been crappy. Lots and lots of rain. Its raining right now, big surprise. Oh hold the phone, what am I saying -- there has been some excitement -- there was another woot-off on www.woot.com. The Huskies surprisingly won the Apple Cup this year (yay!). I just finished watching season 2 of LOST. And tomorrow, I get to eat Lemon Squares. Maybe I'll make some Snickerdoodles too... hahaha.
And now to save myself another blog entry, I'll post the Lemon Square recipe for those of you (you know who you are...) who will ask me for the recipe...
Lemon Squares
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of butter
1/4 cup of confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice
zest of one lemon
2 drops of yellow food coloring (optional if you want your squares to be YELLOW)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, butter and confectioners' sugar thoroughly (best with semi-cold butter so that the dough is crumbly and not like cookie batter). Press evenly into a square pan (8x8x2"), building up a 1/2" edge. Bake 20 minutes. Beat rest of ingredients together until smooth (sugar should be almost completely dissolved and the color will turn lighter yellow, I like using a whisk). After crust has baked for 20 minutes, pour yellow mixture over crust and bake for another 25 minutes. When cooled you may dust the tops with more confectioners' sugar. Makes 25 squares.
Total baking time: 45 minutes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Eating time: 5 minutes
Happy Eating...er, Thanksgiving.
I was talking with Shawn today at work about how your perspective of holidays change as you get older. We decided that the holidays are so much more exciting as adults; you appreciate them more because you don't have as much time to yourself it seems. As a kid admit it--Thanksgiving kind of sucks. You don't get any presents, there isn't any fun music to listen to, there is no candy, and all you do is sit around the small table at Grandma's house and eat turkey with your cousins. Not exciting. As an adult, Thanksgiving is about gossiping and getting to talk to your now "cool" older relatives and realizing -- "hey, I'm an adult now, this is fun".
Not much has happened since. I mean, work has been busier than ever. Getting my boss ready for her maternity leave, still transitioning knowledge to people, catching up with research, and at the same time planning events for April 2007...aaaaahhhhh! The weather here in Seattle has been crappy. Lots and lots of rain. Its raining right now, big surprise. Oh hold the phone, what am I saying -- there has been some excitement -- there was another woot-off on www.woot.com. The Huskies surprisingly won the Apple Cup this year (yay!). I just finished watching season 2 of LOST. And tomorrow, I get to eat Lemon Squares. Maybe I'll make some Snickerdoodles too... hahaha.
And now to save myself another blog entry, I'll post the Lemon Square recipe for those of you (you know who you are...) who will ask me for the recipe...
Lemon Squares
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of butter
1/4 cup of confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice
zest of one lemon
2 drops of yellow food coloring (optional if you want your squares to be YELLOW)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, butter and confectioners' sugar thoroughly (best with semi-cold butter so that the dough is crumbly and not like cookie batter). Press evenly into a square pan (8x8x2"), building up a 1/2" edge. Bake 20 minutes. Beat rest of ingredients together until smooth (sugar should be almost completely dissolved and the color will turn lighter yellow, I like using a whisk). After crust has baked for 20 minutes, pour yellow mixture over crust and bake for another 25 minutes. When cooled you may dust the tops with more confectioners' sugar. Makes 25 squares.
Total baking time: 45 minutes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Eating time: 5 minutes
Happy Eating...er, Thanksgiving.
posted by Jonell at
12:30 AM
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