Welcome to the better-late-than-never wrap up of my Desert, Lemon Squares. Like this very posting, the making of this desert was delayed by a heavy dose of procrastinating due to the struggle that was my move.
I typically like to try and mix things up a bit when my turn comes around. Prior to my turn, there were (as you can see in this very blog) several selections that were very rich and/or chocolatey. After a little deliberation (read: looking around the baked goods aisle at 9 PM on tuesday night) I settled upon Lemon Squares. I had initially wanted to do something a little more homemade, but due to a lack of time (again, the move), resources (my sous chef living at school during the week), and experience (my first time using the stove in my apartment, which is much different than my old one) I resorted to going the boxed way.
When I got home from the store, I put the groceries away such that I could watch TV and fall asleep on the couch for a bit (the desert selection process left me very tired). I woke up later and realized I had to get cracking, so i started mixing the eggs (egg beaters, actually- we're very cholesterol conscious) with the lemon mix. I then went to heat up the oven per the instructions. This is where I realized the fatal flaw in the industrial design fiasco that is the face of my oven: the different temperatures are listed on the knob in 25 degree intervals, which is par for the course. However, with a setup like that, you would expect a line that points to the temperature to be painted on the face of the oven behind the knob such that it could let you know what the temperature is set to while you bake. Unfortunately, you would be wrong, as the geniuses that designed my stove thought that it would make more sense to have the aforementioned be painted on the knob itself, pointed directly at... 0°. Fantastic. So i went out on a limb and assumed that the temperature setting should be at the top and adjusted it to what i believed was 350°, but honestly I have no idea how close to that I was.
It was at this point that I went to my bedroom to check my wallet to make sure that I had cash so that I could buy some cookies for everyone during lunch break the next day to make up for what was sure to be a lemony desert disaster.
So i go back in the kitchen and put the crust mix in the (newly purchased) 8" x 8" pan and then into the oven, which I could only hope was in the right temperature range. After letting the crust bake for about 5 minutes, the lemon mix is then poured in and the whole thing is baked for about 20 minutes. I then took it out, and to my amazment it was actually cooked properly (i.e., wasn't burnt or still liquid). I let it cool off a while by the window and then cut it into small pieces as to fit into tupperware.
I tried a small sliver of one and thought it was pretty good, but could use a little something extra. I then grabbed the powdered sugar and applied at a nice variety, from Jon-level coating (a slight sprinkle) all the way to Dags-Level (heavy dousing).
Desert the next afternoon went pretty well, with nary a leftover square. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Jon's fancy iPhone device for the stunning hi-resolution picture above.
With Warm and Delicious Regards,
Steve
