Lemon Squares

Instead of going somewhere for Labor Day, we decided to give ourselves a much-needed weekend off--from visitors, from visiting, etc. We entertained ourselves by going anywhere in LA we could think of with good air conditioning (movies! museums!), did chores, hung out, and had friends over for dinner on both Sunday and Monday nights. And to both sets I fed Todd Tilzer's lemon bars.

Tilzer is a friend of mine from when I lived in Chicago the first time. Since then he has lived in Atlanta, Miami (maybe? am I making this up?), and Colorado, and I have lived in Boston, Chicago (again), and Los Angeles. But we're still friends. Tilzer is a pretty hilarious character, with a soft cookie center inside the "Tilzer's Taxidermy: You snuff 'em, we stuff 'em" phone-answering exterior. In recent years that center has become more evident, likely due to a combination of hard work on his part and his fantastic wife and really cute baby.

I had the pleasure of doing a brief drive by of the Tilzer clan last winter during a ski trip out west. My dad and Todd had a marvelous time talking shop (Real Estate, meet Construction. Construction, meet Real Estate), and I'm also fairly certain my dad thought about nabbing said really cute baby. Seriously, it was touch and go there for a minute.

Among all these other things, Tilzer has always been one of my biggest fans - writing-wise, that is. He is an avid reader of this blog--and anything else I do, truthfully, which is really nice. I keep trying to convince him that he should give up what he's doing to be my manager, but so far no dice.

As a result of his fan-dom, he actually submitted a late entry into the recipe book under the proper rules of engagement. That is, anyone who was invited to participate in the first place can contribute late entries at any time. So Tilzer got all fired up about a month or so ago and sent me a couple of recipes, likely eager to see how he would fare with the Recipe Book Treatment. As he is a good cook, this was a welcome addition.

Learning my lesson from the Chocolate Cake debacle (amongst others), I headed into the kitchen very early on Sunday to give more than ample time for proper Lemon Square cooling. I took the dog aside and we had a conversation about how we were going to be careful this time. We were going to pay attention, not rush, and do a good job. The dog hoped this meant he would finally get to eat a lemon. And six minutes later I realized I'd used the 1/3 measuring cup instead of the 1/2 measuring cup for the powdered sugar for the crust. I think I am hopeless.

That little and easily-remedied slip up aside, the Lemon Square baking went rather smoothly. I let it cool for like 34 hours (okay, maybe a little less) and then was very, very careful taking said squares out of their pans. I determined that the silicone baking pan I have was far superior for this, and likely will be for things that should hold some shape but might be difficult to pry out. Note to self: Upgrade to silicone or Pyrex in lieu of all your metal sheets ASAP.

Fed the Lemon Squares to guests on Sunday night and Monday night, as well as Josh and me. They were well received across the board. Finally, a baking success! It sure as hell took me long enough.

Light and lovely

Tilzer's Heather-proof Lemon Squares

Crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt (Kosher!)
1 cup margarine (Tilzer says: Must use margarine. Heather says: okay)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (or 1/3 cup and then a bunch to hopefully make up the difference)

Topping:
4 eggs
1 whole lemon - juice & rind
2 cups sugar
4 tbsp flour

Crust:
Melt margarine. Mix in flour, salt and powdered sugar. Pat into 9x9" or two 8" square pyrex. Have neither, and put into one square silicone baking dish and another 8x11"ish brownie plate. Realize after soliciting eater feedback that they came out a little thin, and therefore probably would have done well to all be in the one square silicone baker. Also, that you need more of those. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Topping:
Beat eggs and lemon rind and juice in blender. Break a couple of huge bits of shell into the blender and then try not to cut up fingers while you fish it out. Puzzle over if whether 'lemon rind' means you zest the outside or just throw in the entire lemon? And what does that mean about seeds? Decide to use the juicer, juice the lemon, thereby ridding it of seeds. Pour in juice. Then put in entire lemon rind, hoping that is what Tilzer means, but being aware he could also mean just zest the outside. Damn it.

Beat until light yellow. Well, this works. Add sugar and flour in blender and mix well. Pour into baked crust. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top while still hot. Wonder why not sprinkle later, but decide yours isn't to ask why. Allow to thoroughly cool - for once. Serve to friends. Wonder if you are chomping on lemon rind bits.

Catch cold. Feel grumpy. Take nap.