Lemon Bars
I realise that after yesterday the last thing I should be thinking about is more sugar-shock specials, but the fact is that I keep thinking about my lemon bars. Other times I’ve been to the Ritz for tea* there has usually been a little lemon tartlet with a raspberry or a mint leaf on top among the dazzling pastry selection. Yesterday there wasn’t. And I missed it. But the awful, awful, the ludicrous and dishonourable truth is that I prefer my shortbread crust.**
2 c basic all purpose white flour
½ c confectioner’s/icing sugar
½ lb butter [sic]
Grated rind one lemon (do you have to be warned about ONLY grating the yellow part and NOT the white part? You also want unwaxed lemons if you’re going to eat the peel, and if I were you I’d want organic unwaxed lemons)
Mix flour and sugar; cut in butter and rind. Press in 13 x 9 inch pan (or reasonable equivalent. This is not a rocket-science, every 1/8th tsp counts, don’t slam the door while it’s baking, recipe). Bake 350° F 20 minutes, till light brown.
3 eggs, beaten till thoroughly mixed, but they should still be fluffy and foamy
2 c granulated sugar [sic]
½ c lemon juice (FRESH lemon juice. Anyone who uses Realemon or whatever ersatz rubbish they’re producing at the moment, is FOREVER BANNED from this blog)
1/3 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
Beat sugar, flour and baking powder into eggs, then lemon juice. (The original recipe told you to beat in the lemon juice first, which is perverse, because the result is so thin the flour and baking powder will lump. Maybe I’m missing some rockety-sciency chemical reaction doing it my way, but almost everybody I’ve fed these to has wanted the recipe so I guess I can live with my shortcomings as a chemist.) Pour over baked crust. Bake 350° 25 minutes. It should be obviously set but only very faintly brown in the corners. Sprinkle with icing sugar, let cool. Let cool THOROUGHLY before you try to cut it into bars or you will be very sorry–in fact I recommend you let your refrigerator help you. It cuts better if it’s been refrigerated but it tastes better if you let it warm back up to room temperature.
And by all means put a raspberry or a mint leaf on top. Or both. I know there are a lot of lemon-meringue-pie-without-the-meringue cookies/bars/tarts out there (and indeed there are lemon-meringue-with-the-meringue cookies, bars and tarts out there too) but this is the one I use. A lot of them don’t have enough lemon juice in them. This one didn’t either in its original incarnation. Have I mentioned lately I’m an extremist?
* * *
* If you concentrate on having a Favourite Thing sometimes you can kind of create plausibility. Visiting Americans will also usually go for the tea at the Ritz plan–although Merrilee is jaded^, she knows me.
^ She was telling me about this amazing publishing party she’d been to while she was here, where they take over one of the big museums and you stroll around the priceless artefacts or go admire the view of London with your glass of wine and your canapés and your party frock+ and your exclusive company including no loud tourists or whining children. Yeep. I hope tea at the Ritz wasn’t too downmarket for her.
+ Although we were very well dressed yesterday. Merrilee was wearing a fabulous black lace dress and I was wearing a somewhat less fabulous twirly black skirt with lace insets but I was also wearing a very fabulous belt that Peter gave me for Christmas quite a few years ago now, with a big round black-and-clear-crystal rhinestone buckle as big as the palm of your hand. Well, as big as the palm of my hand, and I have big hands.
** Don’t tell them, or I’ll never get a booking again. The story I didn’t tell you about yesterday is that I’d done it by email and had a Confirmation Email with a Booking Reference Number which is eight letters, six numbers and a slash mark long^. It doesn’t say anywhere ‘print this out and take it with you’ but I was going to. And then it was on the wrong computer and I didn’t have time to go fetch it off the right computer so I went without it. And I therefore spent a not inconsiderable part of the journey up worrying that they’d have lost the booking and refuse to seat us and we’d be out on the street in our black lace and rhinestones and have to have tea out a Styrofoam cup at McDonald’s.^^
^ How do they come up with a system that creates Booking Reference Numbers that are eight letters, six numbers and a slash mark long?
^^ I wouldn’t cross the threshold of McDonald’s if I were dying of thirst/hunger/melting in the rain.+ Okay, tea out of a kiosk in Green Park. Actually that sounds kind of nice. Although the lace and rhinestones might have been a trifle superfluous.
+ I lie. Once a decade or so I use their restrooms. Although I think I missed this decade.
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where they take over one of the big museums and you stroll around the priceless artefacts or go admire the view of London with your glass of wine and your canapés and your party frock+ and your exclusive company including no loud tourists or whining children.
…
And where was YOUR invitation? Must have gotten lost in the post. *shakes fist*
But… Wow. Very wow.
(And it sounds like both of you were just gorgeous yesterday. Are there photos? :D)
And where was YOUR invitation? Must have gotten lost in the post.
********* LOL! Of course! Lost in the post! –I will admit that Merrilee has smuggled me in to one or two such parties over the last thirty years and I tend to go yip yip yip and hide in a corner, so I’m not really a very gratifying guest.
(And it sounds like both of you were just gorgeous yesterday. Are there photos? :D)
********** **Definitely** gorgeous. Us old broads, we *rule.* I had brought my camera thinking I’d get a waiter to flash us at the table, but then there’s that pesky little note on the menu saying no cameras. The annoying thing is that there have been flashes going off in every direction when I’ve been there before, and I don’t know if it’s because people can’t read or whether it’s a new rule. Feh! But there wasn’t much point in having ourselves flashed in the street. You want the flower arrangements and the gilt.
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No photos? That doesn’t seem fair at all! It seems like you go there so you can have a night of glamor and fanciness, and of course you’d want a *record* of that.
How nice of Merrilee to occasionally smuggle you in! But I’d do the same thing and hide. Surely everyone would notice I Did Not Belong. (Maybe someday you’ll tell us about these parties? ;)
I agree–but perhaps they’re catering to their REGULARS who find all the flashes from the hoi polloi who don’t BELONG there ANNOYING.
Parties are all alike! Including publishing parties! They’re full of too many noisy people! And you stand around feeling like a jerk! Either you talk to people and feel like a jerk or you DON’T talk to people and feel like a jerk! The only good thing about parties is getting dressed up to go to one! Having made my entrance I want to go HOME! (Tricky, of course, if you’re touring. Have I mentioned that my favourite thing is Room Service? Well, it *would* be, wouldn’t it?) If you want to hear glamour, you have to find someone else to tell you!
I want pictures too!
perhaps they’re catering to their REGULARS who find all the flashes from the hoi polloi who don’t BELONG there ANNOYING.
Huh, I suppose that makes sense. Still. :(
Parties are all alike! Including publishing parties!
I’ve never been to one! Getting dressed up for an evening sounds all right, and as long as you can stay very close to your friends… I would *not* want to go by myself, though.
Room service. Yes. :D
I get all sort of false heroic and don’t want to *cling*. On the other hand, when I’m being *dragged* by a publisher I tell them that they have to keep me amused or I’ll slope off. :) I’m so bad. So every time I start looking for a door there’s another sweating assistant hastily herding someone in my direction. I had a now-retired editor who had turned the party-people-flow into an art form. Well, she’d given a lot of parties over her fifty or so years in the business.
*****Have I mentioned that my favourite thing is Room Service?*****
OHHH, yeah. One of the greatest inventions ever. I don’t share your liking for dressing up. I consider it the ultimate luxury to enjoy fine food delivered to my room to eat lying down in my pajamas (or less).
Judith
Well, see above (if it’s still above when it gets posted). I get dressed up long enough to make the entrance and then flee as soon as possible. Back to to my room, and room service.
So every time I start looking for a door there’s another sweating assistant hastily herding someone in my direction.
Ooh, this made me giggle.
Well, when someday we happen to go to the same party (I plan on being fantastically published and therefore invited to lots of parties, but I will probably not go to many far away because I have *ferrets* who need their minion!), we can hang out together, no worries about clinging necessary. And by hang out I mean get room service. ;)
I don’t suppose I get invited to *lots* of parties, but I certainly get invited to more than I go to. And yes, I always like the ones in Los Angeles or something. Yeah, sure, I’ll pop over for the evening.
And okay, so long as you’re willing to be seen with someone whose only real enjoyment of the party experience is the dressing-up part. I’m probably past the black leather micro-mini, I’m *definitely* past the black leather merry widow, but I don’t guarantee never to wear the dress I wore to give my Newbery speech in, which was out of a vintage clothing store and had dangling topaz bits all down the front which I highlighted by a topaz rhinestone glued to my forehead. Oh yes and the lace elbow gloves. Granted winning the Newbery required extreme measures but I’m still kind of like that. :) And then we go back to our rooms, put on our jammies, and have room service. :)
And okay, so long as you’re willing to be seen with someone whose only real enjoyment of the party experience is the dressing-up part.
Oh, that’s why I’d be there, too. And to have gone, of course, to at least one.
a vintage clothing store and had dangling topaz bits all down the front which I highlighted by a topaz rhinestone glued to my forehead. Oh yes and the lace elbow gloves.
Ooooh. Well it sounds gorgeous! If you’re going to dress up, you might as well go all out! When the occasion is upon us, I’ll find something equally fancy. (Actually, it could be an excuse to knit this: http://www.blueskyalpacas.com/pattern_detail.php?patterns_ID=105&PHPSESSID=c4dc1e68cd404b5acd40011d926136b1 and actually have somewhere to wear it. :D)
http://www.blueskyalpacas.com/pattern_detail.php?patterns_ID=105&PHPSESSID=c4dc1e68cd404b5acd40011d926136b1
Oh hot golly wow gosh damn. Yes, *make* the thing. It will magically PRODUCE the occasion to wear it to.
Isn’t it gorgeous!? (I just noticed they added another pattern — the ’30s style! — and it’s in crochet, so it should even go faster than the knit one.) In alpaca/silk. *dies* I priced the yarn for the ’40s style once; it came out around $250 for the small size.
Yes, I like the 30s one too, but I don’t do backless. ALL of my skin is speckly, sigh. See: reasons to become a vampire.
Oh hot golly wow gosh damn.
Actually! Just kidding! I think the yarn was about $10 a hank at the Yarn Store That’s No Longer There, so that’s only $160. That’s not bad! (Now I’m totally dreaming of that dress, but I imagine it’s *hot* in there. I should also get more practice knitting big things. Socks are much less commitment.)
What’s wrong with hot? You have heard of winter, haven’t you? You may just have to move NORTH for the winter occasionally.
Oooh, do make it! We’d love to see you in the finished product. I’ll have a party for you – if you’re willing to come to Greece, that is.
Alpaca is so light that it will not be necessarily be *hot*. If you were trying to run a marathon or in the middle of a hot day then maybe but I find it very “neutral”. It takes longer for me to get “hot” in an alpaca sweater. :) It is very insulating.
I have seen wedding dresses made of alpaca. :) (Worn by people who own alpacas LOL)
I love alpaca. It is very warm for its weight (I would say) but I would say it is also, well, WARM.
Robin: What’s wrong with hot? You have heard of winter, haven’t you? You may just have to move NORTH for the winter occasionally.
I’m only opposed to hot at the moment because it’s hot and humid here. In the winter, it would be perfect!
Susan from Athens: Oooh, do make it! We’d love to see you in the finished product. I’ll have a party for you – if you’re willing to come to Greece, that is.
I intend to! One day! I…haven’t actually found the place to buy the pattern, so it will require some investigating. And go to Greece for a party? Let me get on my private jet! I have it parked out back. ;)
b_twin_1: Alpaca is so light that it will not be necessarily be *hot*.
Good to know! I haven’t actually knit with a lot of alpaca, but it looks so fuzzy and warm. I knit a pair of mitts out of alpaca/angora, and boy THOSE were warm. (And, unfortunately, too big for my bony hands. I sent them to my piano friend and she wears them all the time. Even in the summer.)
I, for one, am *glad* you’re an extremist. especailly if it’s where lemon is concerned. I can’t get enough of it. it’s my favourite citrus fruit.
I actually think that I have all of the ingrediants for this in the house! (very surprising for me, lol), but I have one question – by granulated sugar do you mean the regular white stuff? or brown or whatever that isn’t in cubes but isn’t as fine as powder?
it’ll give me something to do on a saturday :)
It’s the sugar you put in your tea. If you put sugar in your tea. Oh, well, some people put demerara in their tea. *I* put regular white sugar in my tea.
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ack! just found out there isn’t enough butter in the house… *hangs head in shame*.
ah well. tomorrow, then!
This sounds so good. Need I say that I too love my lemons and believe that lemony things should actually taste like lemon? I use lemon zest in any number of things and actually use different kinds of zesting implements depending on end use (besides being an extremist I am also something of a gadget freak, but only in a limited three or four category way – and cooking is naturally one of my categories). One of my favourite restaurants does a lemon mousse with mascarpone cheese which is luscious. I know – dairy – but I think you have mentioned cream etc. so much lately I can mention cheese. Though I have to say, if I had to give up dairy (and I have given up milk – except for tea when in England – and avoid cream) it would be the cheese that would be hardest to give up.
Ice cream girl that I am/was, I agree with you about cheese.
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I was without cheese (and other dairy) for six months–allergy diet–at which point it occurred to me to ask My Friend the Allergist if it was *all* dairy or just cow’s milk. Oh, just cow’s milk, he said, breezily. I did not kick him in the knee but I was tempted to. I could have been eating feta and pecorino and Roquefort and chevre . . . I am immensely happy to have gotten dairy back into my diet; if I were stuck with listing just one favorite thing, it would have to be really good cheese.
Well, it depends! Some people are allergic/intolerant to ALL dairy of any milk-producing critter. What were your friend’s parameters? Because I’ve fought shy of experimenting with sheep and goat because the final demonstration of disaffection from this body is the Head Cold That Doesn’t Go Away about six months later. And I mean **the head cold from hell**. The head cold that would scare Sauron or the Balrog. ROQUEFORT??? It’s NOT cow? Oh, gods . . . and I love feta too . . .
Just remember to check the ingredients when you go for those cheeses because sometimes they cheat and use cow’s milk for things like feta. ( I know, I know!) General rule of thumb (in Oz anyway) is that if it doesn’t SAY that it is goat or sheep’s milk then be very wary.
Drat, drat, drat. DRAT. Have I said drat? D R A T. Now break my heart about Roquefort.
You have to be careful with feta. Feta can be cow or contain cow milk. It can be a mixture of milks or pure goat or pure sheep’s milk. (I should know I had to translate the legislation.
Oh, ratbags! Well, thanks for warning me. Here I’ve been thinking feta would be a nice quiet place to start.
Since my issue is allergies and not intolerance or sensitivity, the parameters are the specific proteins that produce the immune response, and they were cow proteins. I don’t know if lactose intolerance or sensitivity crosses species lines; for probably 99% of people, “milk” means cow’s milk. You’d probably never know without doing a food trial. When you have such a long lag time before you know the result, that’s not so easy.
Yeah, Roquefort is sheep’s milk. Lots of good sheep’s milk cheeses out in the world.
Hmm. That ought to be me, then, because I’m one of the dairy-intolerants who CAN eat butter, because it lacks milk protein. Hmmmm . . .
The ingredients list on the cheese (or in the cheese shop) should tell you what it’s made from. Feta here can be sheep or goat or cow or a mix. I like the sheep feta best. But Roquefort can ONLY be sheep or it’s not Roquefort, and pecorino of whatever variety can only be sheep, and chevre can only be goat. All the manchegos I’ve seen are sheep’s milk, but “manchego” covers a lot of ground so there might be cow versions too. And you certainly might be able to find local artisan cheesemakers who use sheep’s or goat’s milk–I get a very nice sheep’s-milk blue made by people about twenty miles from here.
Yes, I’ve had terrific sheep blue, and I love chevre. I don’t know whether to cheer up or not . . . because I still don’t know whether Alternative Cow would still bring on head cold from hell or not. Sigh. Life is so full of fraught decisions.
Neal’s Yard Dairy provide a great deal of info about their cheeses and age them perfectly. I always go hog wild whenever I am in London and have to empty the hotel mini-fridge to fill it with cheese. I would go for goat (lots of choice and try it) or just sheep’s milk. But only one. Try it for a while and see. I know there is a downside if you are sensitive, but the only way to find out is to try it. We have tons of goat’s and sheep’s milk cheeses here too. Also yoghurt. So many things to try if you only give in to temptation slightly *evil grin*
Right. Sigh. I’m *tired* of girding my loins. . . .
Other-milk yogurt would certainly be popular with me.
Or just skip the lemon bars (not that I don’t adore lemon bars) and have the RASPBERRIES. I am craving berries fiercely right now. It’s summer; how can it possibly not be berry season yet?
[Adds lemon bars to the growing list of recipes to try]
[Notes the homegrown lemons in the fruit basket]
First lambs of the season born yesterday! The midwife is now officially on duty!
Oh good luck! Hope you’re good at going without sleep! How big is your flock?
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No midnight strolls for me. Thankfully sheep are tougher than horses. They can wait until morning!
The commercial ewes are first (Merino) and there is a small flock of about 250. The stud ewes (Drysdale) won’t be until August and there will only be 70 of them.
I will post pics when I get close enough. Easier with the stud ewes.
Good gosh. All the shepherds I know are out there patrolling. Maybe you have especially tough sheep in Oz.
Tough sheep – yes. ;) Also with some breeds (esp. Merino) they are very flighty and you can cause more mis-mothering by *being there* than by just leaving them alone. Some people patrol at night to try and control foxes and such predators. My alpacas do that job for me. If a fox pokes his head in the paddock they threaten to pummel his head into the ground. Good system ;)
My stud sheep are a different breed (Drysdale). Much better mothers and will not mis-mother because you happen to walk near them. Much easier if you have to assist them or want to take photos! LOL eg. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21742944@N05/2105512782/ This lamb had been born about 10 minutes before the photo was taken.
Good heavens! A “small” flock is 250? You are my hero.
LOL yeah my neighbours have flocks of 2-3,000. And we aren’t in rangeland type country so I really have a small flock. ;)
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I put a little cornmeal in my shortbread crust – do you consider that disgraceful? Because I find the crust is more likely to hold together, and I love the slightly crunchy texture (although “crunchy” is the wrong word, it’s hard to describe it properly). Also, they come out of the pan really well. In your recipe, for instance, I’d probably substitute 1/4 cup of flour for 1/4 cup of cornmeal.
I love a good baked custardy-kind of lemon square. Sometimes they add so much flour to the lemon portion that it becomes kind of doughy, I hate that.
Lemon squares are so personal – I taste-test them every time I see them, and I still like mine the best. No one else seems to get it totally right, eh?
I put cornmeal in when I want a rougher crust and cornstarch/cornflour when I want a meltier crust. For this recipe I use neither.
Yes, too much flour and too little lemon juice, yuck.
I taste-test them every time I see them, and I still like mine the best
******** So post yours!
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Apart from the cornmeal, my recipe is practically identical to yours (except, I brave the rather unpleasant rind-in-the-teeth sensation and put rind in the custard as well as the crust, because I really really really love lemon). Re: reipe sharing, I once thought to ask if you and the commenters like rhubarb pudding, because I have the easiest recipe ever (its mainly just chopped rhubarb topped by a no-fuss, runny biscuit crust, but OH MY). Also, I sometimes make a small batch of savoury squash/pumpkin fritters from frozen mashed squash that I keep in the freezer, but held back on that one because, well, fritters = frying. Hence the “sometimes”. I guess we could boil them like dumplings and then crisp them up in the oven, though…
Heavens, I’m not THAT pure. I LOVE fried foods. :) (I’m *dangerous* with a good sausage. :)) I also love rhubarb. I seem to have lost the runny biscuit crust recipe I used to use–it didn’t start life as runny, but I put it over some wet fruit (probably rhubarb) and an Excellent New Thing was born. Except I can’t find it, so . . .
I should start putting peel in the lemon (curd? custard?) again. I stopped when I couldn’t find unwaxed lemons, and have forgotten to start again.
This looks like a lovely recipe, thank you. I love lemon bars but most of them are too sweet and insufficiently lemony. I LIKE the half cup of lemon juice in yours. Although I’ll probably have to table this until after strawberry season. The local berries are in. The ones I brought home today were a touch watery, but now that
some of us are putting plants in the ground, we aren’t getting any rain, so next week’s berries should be a little more intense.
I once went to a party for which a museum (after hours) was taken over. It was put on by my husband’s company for people in the company and was done very well, but they weren’t folks that I had a lot in common with and small talk can only carry an evening so far. The dressing up was fun, though.
So it’s all your fault. I just love lemon-anything and since my husband hates meringues I obviously never get to bake ordinary lemon pie.
I’ll let you know how this turned out, it’s in the oven as I write this. After I carefuly translated al the measurements into metric measures, it still seems to be o.k.
But I definitely didn’t need anymore recipes with this much butter and sugar in it. That’s going to add another inch or two to my ever expanding waistline, so it had better be worth it ;-)
Smells nice so far!
One question though, should I have used salted butter? Or added the salt, since salted butter doesn’t exist here.
They’re worth it. :)
I always use ‘slightly’ (as it says on the packet) salted butter because I find that’s as much salt as baking generally needs. *Next time* you can add a pinch of salt if you want but I also think salt is overdone. If you use first class ingredients many things don’t *need* the kick that salt provides.
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I tried making these yesterday, and they came out really well – I’ve been snarling at anyone who approaches the pan, in fact, which is probably the wrong attitude with baking, or at least not the classic one.
Anyway, I’m a long time fan. I always want more pictures of the dogs (my family has a lurcher, and I get dog-sick no longer living there full-time).
Well, they will thank you later when the filling has *set* properly. :)
I always want more pictures of the dogs
********* Oh good. I was just thinking I haven’t done photos in a while.
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“A lot of them don’t have enough lemon juice in them. This one didn’t either in its original incarnation. Have I mentioned lately I’m an extremist?”
No! Really? :)
“where they take over one of the big museums and you stroll around the priceless artefacts or go admire the view of London with your glass of wine and your canapés and your party frock+ and your exclusive company including no loud tourists or whining children.”
I’m not usually in posh party circles myself but I was at a lovely conference in Bath a few years ago where the formal dinner was held in the Roman Baths complex (or whatever it’s called) and we had the whole of the site to ourselves for the evening. They even had flame torches out for us, around the place, so we could feel Roman-y or something…:)
Really!!!!!!!
What, no waitresses in togas? No mysterious figures in the shadows who may or may not be real, or real in *this* era . . . ?
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The closest I’ve gotten to an event like this was when I large Germany company, Bosch I think, rented a restored Roman castle for the night.
Since I was part of a Roman music group I went in a toga and played the kithara. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kithara
All of the people were very, very well dressed. However I think I had much more fun wearing a toga and acting than I would have had as one of the well dressed audience.
Rebecca Winklebeam
p.s. The English accent imitation that you described worked like a charm. I walked into a business English class to find two students with long faces. Their boss had said he wanted to join the English class and they didn’t want him there.
Does he want AmE or BrE I asked. American English they answered. I replied with my new accent, ‘then we’ll tell him I’m from London and he won’t last more than one class.’ They almost fell on the floor laughing.
“What, no waitresses in togas?”
Now come on, Robin, you know that togas are male attire…(and looking at how complicated they were to drape correctly, they’re welcome to them). Besides, it wasn’t *that* sort of a party. :)
It was very atmospheric, being able to wander around freely and go into bits not normally on show. Standing in the dim light, watching the hot springs flowing from the rocks, one could easily imagine people standing in the same place and being equally fascinated 2,000 years or more ago.
Yes, but I’ve forgotten the word for the female differently-draped toga. What, no waitresses in interesting roman-looking drapery?
Mmm…. lemon tart.
Wait, wait–WHICH museum did she get to hobnob around like this?? How jealous do I need to be of your agent?
Very jealous. Very, very jealous. The Tate Modern.
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I figured as much when you mentioned the views. Sigh…
The Tate Modern’s cool, true. :) Now, if it had been the V&A…. or dare I say it, the British Museum itself… THAT would be jealousy the likes of which the world has seldom seen.
I did try making baked custard last week, by the way–since we’re talking about tarts and other things vaguely related to custards. Came out runny, even after I left it in an extra 15 minutes. I’m beginning to think the whole putting the dish in a pan of boiling water thing is utter crap, and am going to try it without.
Well, I’m a member of both, and we get invited to member-only parties and evenings and pre-openings where we can wander around and see the special shows by ourselves. Eat your heart out. :)
Oh YEAH?? :)
Well, I can’t complain, really. I get to see stuff in our collection that has never ever been on display in a bajillion years… like the shrunken heads, for example. (Yes. We have three. One of them is likely a sloth head, not a human one, but the other two are apparently the real deal. Due to the ethical issues of displaying human remains, we’ll never use them; and due to laws regarding the sale of said remains, we can’t deaccession them easily either.)
Your custard should set in a bain-marie; mine always has a tendency to curdle if I bake it without. But have you ever checked to see if your oven’s temp gauge is accurate? I got curious about mine and bought a couple of good oven thermometers (I have a double wall oven). Turns out one is 25 degrees lower and the other is about the same amount higher than their settings show. Now I get much more accurate results by compensating for the difference.
You’d think I’d have even more trouble with cooking if my oven was really way far off the mark. I’m sure it’s a tad off though… I’m going to try the custard at a higher temp, and then I’m going to try it without its little bath, and we’ll see how the results vary. Part of it probably also is that I don’t really have an ideal dish for baked custard. I might just go out and buy some custard cups…
Llllllemon bars! Thank you! *drool* Must try this recipe.
I love parties like those — I got to work some just after college as a volunteer/catering assistant. My friends and I used to crash opening night parties for the SF Opera and Ballet, and liberated a lot of the flowers at the end of the evening.
They turned out great and taste even better. My friend who visited today also loved them. There is just one problem: This stuff might be addictive!!!!
Thanks for the recipe, it’s so easy (once the measurements where translated). I can tell this is going to be a new favourite.
Katja
This stuff might be addictive!!!!
******* Mwa ha ha ha ha ha. I own *shares* in the Global Lemon Conglomerate. :)
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