Lemon Squares

My friend's grandpa died and I decided it would be nice to bake him something. This friend is also a neighbour, and it's always nice to bring food over to neighbours' in times of need. I wanted to make something comforting and practical and was thinking about making muffins. I started sifting through my cookbooks and these lemon bars from Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman (the original not the new cookbook) jumped out at me. My friend likes Lemon meringue and lemon cake so i figured he might like these too. I saved a couple for my friend Stu who is recovering from an inner ear infection and Stefan ate as many as he could before I brought these upstairs... fine I may have eaten a few myself. They taste so yummy and fresh. I would definitely recommend these and will be making them again.

It's funny, I have really bad time management when it comes to baking or cooking. I always underestimate the time it will take me. The bars take a bit longer than you'd expect because you first bake the bottom later for 20 minutes, than add the top layer and bake 35-40 minutes more. This time, we had plans to meet friends at the Museum of History's Christmas Market and we wanted to walk over and needed to make a stop on the way. We quickly realized we would never make it on time and pushed back our meeting half an hour. Anyway, the market was really beautiful! I have been going for the past couple of years, and each year i buy less and less. It's still fun to browse and admire the beauty of the Museum.

Note the recipe uses a food processor. I imagine you can also just use by hand, but a food processor makes it quicker and easier.

Ingredients:
Crust:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks plus more to grease pan

Filling:
- 1 medium lemon (make sure pith isn't super thick- should be less than 1/4 inch)
- 1 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 stick butter cut into chunks
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
- optional: icing sugar for dusting

Instructions:
-preheat oven to 350F
-place 2 pieces of parchment in an 8x8 brownie pan- one vertical and one horizontal. they should cover the bottom and as much of the sides as possible. grease parchment with butter

Make the crust
- blend flour, sugar and salt in food processor.
- Add butter and mix until powdery but can hold its shape. turn the dough crumbs into prepared pan and press evenly across bottom. prick dough allover with a fork.
- bake for 20 minutes

Meanwhile, while crust is baking, make filling.
- cut lemon into slides
-blend (peel on) with sugar in food processor about 2 minutes
- add butter, then eggs, cornstarch and salt and mix until just combined.
- pour over the crust and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester or toothpick comes out clean
- cool on a rack. If desired, dust with icing sugar.