Birthday baking!

Posted on | Thursday, September 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

I love to cook and bake. When I find a new recipe online I bookmark it, or I tear it out of the magazine I am reading and stash it in my file that is stock piled with breakfasts, appetizers, soups, and dinners.

There are two problems though. One, I lack most of the necessary tools needed to cook anything (with the exception of three Pyrex pans, some hand-me-down pots and skillets, and a Chefmate 51 piece Kitchen Gadget Set) And two, I lack a dishwasher. I absolutely loathe washing cumbersome pots and pans by hand. My sink is small and I tend to have the entire counter and floor covered in suds and water by the time I finish cleaning the various odds and ends needed to make a home cooked meal.

But I still do it anyway. What can I say; I'm a glutton for punishment. And delicious food.

Today, being my birthday, I wanted to bake a cake. However, all the recipes I found required things I don't have, such as a mixer (shush, I don't bake often). And I'm not crafty enough to think I could mix things with a large fork or a wooden spoon without it coming out as a clumpy, gross, not-delicious mess. I needed something easier. Then it came to me. Lemon bars! Win!
















For the crust, you just need flour, butter and sugar. Easy enough.
















Mix together 1 3/4 cup flour and 2/3 cup sugar. Add 1 cup cold butter.





















Mix the ingredients together until they are crumbly. I used the back of a fork to work the butter into the flour. Mixing them together was a great stress reliever, and the dough smelled DELICIOUS. It took all my will-power not to eat the dough straight out of the bowl!

Once its mixed well, pour it into your greased and floured 9x13 pan (I didn't grease mine well enough and half the bars got stuck to the pan, yikes!) and press firmly into the bottom. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. While the crust is baking, you can prepare the lemon topping.
















Again, easy ingredients. Flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder and lemon juice. Pretend that's freshly squeezed juice from real lemons on the right.

















In a large bowl, add 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 4 slightly beaten eggs and 1/2 cup lemon juice. I loved the color, it was a beautiful creamy yellow and reminded me of custard. Pour the mixture on top of the warm baked crust. Bake for another 20-25 minutes. Remove and sprinkle over the top with sugar and cool completely. THIS IS THE WORST PART. Waiting for these delicious morsels to cool was a severe test of patience.





















But worth it? Oh yeah.
















They are light, tangy, flakey, yummy and everything else that ends in 'Y' that's a good adjective. Even better than a chocolate cake! Well, almost. And I have a 9x13 pan of them which means I get to share the birthday goodness with everyone. Om nom nom!

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