When Life Gives You Lemons

… makes these decadent Lemon Bars (via John James).

For a while I was suffering from oven withdrawal. I was probably some sort of full-time housewife in my past life as I find no difficulty in shedding my femme fatale suits, tying those pastel-coloured apron strings around my waist and dipping my hands into the occasional flour and butter concoction. I found myself dreaming of buttery pastries, crumbling cookies, and light fluffy cakes. At first I thought simply eating them would soothe these thoughts of mine, but they kept nudging me further and further away from the grocery section of APITA and into “Household Appliances”, specifically the toaster ovens and the microwave/oven combination (wonder) machines.

Alas I could not buy one. With my meager teacher’s salary and impending imperative trips, I had to be strict to the ol’ wallet and tied it down.

Thank god for karma! I was in my weekly Tuesday night Japanese lesson, helping put away pillows and tables into the closet like a good Samaritan when I noticed a small, but tall toaster oven.

“Why is there a toaster oven in here?” I asked.

The nearest Japanese person turned around and replied, “Do you want it?”

Is it small? Yes. Is it light? Yes. Does it have heat measured in Celcius and not some arbitrary scale from 1 – 10? Yes.

I looked at the kindly Japanese person and uttered, “Yeeesss …”

I took it home that night.

Working with a toaster oven is not without it’s flaws. The following recipe is from the John James’ site, but I’ve halved it a bit to adopt the portions to fit my toaster oven.

Lemon Bars via Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

These are bold and tart lemon bars, ones I feel are best in smaller doses than Ina Garten suggests. I’ve made a few changes to the recipe–increased the salt in the crust, reduced the sugar in the lemon filling and an encouragement to grease your pan.

For the crust:
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup confectioners sugar

Lemon layer:
6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/4 cup flour

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet.*

(*We have a gas oven and I had to figure this out thru trial and error, but I found that upping the heat to the equivalent of 300 °C made for a better square. However, you will have to watch the baking a little more closely.)

Ana Edit: Same goes for a toaster oven. I had to wrap tinfoil at the top to make sure that it did not burn. I may remake this with less filling next time. I also did this recipe without the use of an electric mixer, so feel free to try it out.

For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into the greased baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

For the lemon layer, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes (less if you are using the thinner topping), or about five minutes beyond the point where the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.

Cut into triangles and dust with confectioners’ sugar.