Lemon Squares

This is a recipe that has been around for years and years. It is a creamy baked lemon curd with a buttery shortbread crust. I needed to make these for a tea last weekend and couldn't find my mom's recipe, so I decided to use this one from All Recipes. It was very close to what I remember of my mom's. (I altered it just a tad.)

Lemon Squares

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter, melted

4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together 2 cups flour and confectioners' sugar. Blend in the melted butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Combine the sugar, baking powder and 1/4 cup of flour so there will be no flour lumps. Stir the sugar mixture into the eggs. Finally, stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the prepared crust and return to the oven.
4. Bake for an additional 20 minutes or until bars are set. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.


Bake the crust at 350º for 15-20 minutes.


Prepare the filling and pour into the crust.


After the first batch was tricky to cut, I lined the baking dish with aluminum foil. After it cools, you can remove it and cut it into very neat squares. Clean-up is easier, too.


Bake until the filling is set, and a very light golden brown, which will be about 20 minutes.


They are so good. And I'm not a fan of citrus.

But I love these.

Olive Oil Muffins

This is a recipe from Giada De Laurentis, my favorite cook from the food network. I watched her prepare it a couple of weeks ago and was very intrigued by the combination of ingredients. This was a sweet muffin, but it contained olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Hmmm... I was compelled to try them and I'm glad I did because they are delicious. They also contain orange and lemon zest, but I added about one teaspoon of each zest instead of two, which gave it just a subtle hint of those flavors. I'm not a fan of heavy citrus.
They are quite moist, but, in my opinion, are best served warm with butter.

Olive Oil Muffins

1- 3/4 cups all- purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp orange zest
2 tsp lemon zest
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons whole milk
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Powdered sugar, for sifting

Preheat the oven to 350. Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Blend together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer beat the sugar, eggs, and zests in a large bowl until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vinegar and milk. Gradually beat in the oil. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Crush the almonds with your hands as you add them to the batter and stir until mixed. Fill the muffin tin almost to the top of the paper liners. Bake until golden on top and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 20 to 25 minutes. Allow to cool. Sift powdered sugar over the muffins.