If life gives you lemons...

Make lemon bars.

Sweets are my thing. I love them...all of them. Like I always tell people, I haven't found a dessert that I don't like.

Lemon bars are not something I crave or order out but every time I make them I fall head over heels. Lemon bars in my opinion are something that needs to be homemade (I feel this way about most things though). There is something so sweetly satisfying about the lemon shortbread crust wafting from the oven in the early morning and finding something to occupy time while you (not so patiently) wait for the bars to cool to a temperature that you can finally cut them.

This is how I spent yesterday morning.

Through much trial and tribulation, I have finally gotten the perfect lemon bar recipe. Like most of my tried and trues, from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book. However, I like a thicker crust and custard than any recipe I have found so I double it and bake it in a 9X13 inch pan.

Two key things that I have found make the perfect lemon bars are:

a. Correct formation of the crust

Where the key is to pat the shortbread crust out evenly and then work the dough up the sides with damp fingers. Also with damp fingers, even out the bottom. This will make the crust perfect every time.

b. You must do mix the custard by hand. In my experience, a electric mixer incorporates too much air into the mixture and ends up making unfortunate bubbles when baking.

My solution:
Mix with a whisk by hand.
Drop bowl multiple times before pouring custard over the crust. This ensures a bubble free custard.

Your efforts will soon be rewarded.