i long for summer

We recently bought a Canon PowerShot SD 870 IS because our old Nikon Coolpix S4 crapped out on us (boo!). We loved the Nikon while it lasted because of the swivel lens, but, I have to say, we LURRRVV our Canon PowerShot to death! [insert me aping Maria Sharapova's "every shot...is a power shot" here]

On an off-tangent story, i've been longing for summer for the past two weeks. It has been really cold and dreary these days. So imagine my surprise and delight when mom brought home basketloads of lemons she picked from an aunt's backyard. Aaahh! Summer yellow! Such a welcome sight. Because of my intense desire for summer and the abundant supply of lemons, I decided to make...Lemon Bars! Now here's how my first 2 paragraphs come together: I decided to take pictures while making my lemon bars! See? This post has a direction after all!



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Lemon Bar Recipe* (with pictures! hooray!)

The warm filling must be added to a warm crust. Start preparing the filling when the crust goes into the oven. Be sure to cool the bars completely before cutting them.

CRUST
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, plus more to decorate the finished bars
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 1-inch pieces

LEMON FILLING
7 large egg yolks, plus 2 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2/3 cup juice from 4 0r 5 medium lemons
1/4 cup finely grated lemon zest
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
3 tablespoons heavy cream

1. For the crust: Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray
2. Place the flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt in a food processor and process briefly. Add the butter and process to blend, 8-10 seconds, then process until the mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal, about three 1-second pulses. (Note: If you don't have a food processor, you could use two knives and do a cut-and-mix motion with the butter and dry ingredients)


3. Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared pan and press firmly with your fingers into an even layer over the entire pan bottom. Refrigerate for 30 mins.


4. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the crust until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

5. For the filling: In a medium nonreactive bowl, whisk together the yolks and whole eggs until combined, about 5 seconds. Add the granulated sugar and whisk until just combined, about 5 seconds. Add the lemon juice, zest and salt; whisk until combined, about 5 seconds.


Transfer the mixture to a medium nonreactive saucepan, add the butter pieces, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the curd thickens to a thin sauce-like consistency and registers 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes. Immediately pour the curd through a single mesh stainless steel strainers set over a clean nonreactive bowl. Stir in the heavy cream; pour the curd into the warm crust immediately.

6. Bake until the filling is shiny and opaque and the center 3 inches jiggle slightly when shaken, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, about 45 minutes.

Remove the bars from the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 2 1/4-inch squares, wiping the knife clean between cuts as necessary. Sieve confectioner's sugar over the bars, if desired.

(Somehow, the 2 pictures above are rotated the wrong way by blogger. Don't know how to fix them...original files are in correct orientation)

And, voila! Yummy yummy lemon bars!


Me, after the hard work. Notice how I match the kitchen! LOL!


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*Recipe from "Baking Illustrated", my baking bible. Are you surprised it's not from Martha? I do have her wonderful baking book, I just trust the recipes more in the Baking Illustrated. ISBN 0-936184-75-2 for those who are interested ;)

-posted by tanya-