Lemon Graham Squares

When I think of graham crackers, images of gooey and ultra sweet s'mores come to mind.  Immediately.  Like there's nothing else to think of other than that, right?  But what if you aren't feeling s'mores at the moment?

I know.  Strange.

But when you do feel unfeeling s'mores, gather the lemons life (or your local market) may give you!  This one right here is going to be good.  Real good!

And absolutely simple.  Definitely doable.  But like all the greatest things, there's a catch.  This one will require you to wait.  After baking the graham cracker crumb crust (smells yummy!), you wait for it to cool.  After baking the whole thing with the custard, you wait for it to cool on the counter.  Again.  Then once it has cooled, you chill it in the fridge and wait about an hour or two.  Again.

But all that waiting is worth it.

You can find the complete recipe for these 'Creamy Lemon Squares' over at Design. Bake. Run.

The ingredients needed aren't many.  Disregard that bottle of vanilla extract in the middle...baker's reflex is what happened.  No need for that in this recipe!

Basically, combine all crust ingredients in a mixing bowl until it looks like...

...this.  

Then take your 8x8" square pan which has been prepared (greased, line and greased again!) and plop the crust in!  Try to spread the crust evenly and press down on it gently.  But don't sweat it.  Bake in the preheated oven for a few minutes then let cool!

I suggest you wait for the crust to cool completely before making the custard.  Super duper easy.  Take the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, lemon juice and about a teaspoon of lemon zest and whisk!

I can't ever let the opportunity of zesting any citrus fruit pass by.  So if you're the same, add the zest.  Also because I ran short of about a tablespoon or two of lemon juice so the zest made up for it.

Pour the custard carefully atop the baked, cooled graham cracker crust!  Bake again for 15 minutes.

And then once done baking, let cool on the counter as I've already mentioned.  Then pop it in the fridge and gather all the patience you can gather and wait for at least 1 hour!

I let it chill for 2 hours.  I was quite patient that day.  Shocking.

I never could draw a straight line.  Never could cut along the dotted line.  Never could slice or cut anything straight and evenly.  

Please don't mind how crooked the cuts are.  These squares turned out delicious and that's what's more important.  Right?!?!  Yeah, I know you'd understand.

Would you look at that!

Let me try to explain how this whole thing tasted: the custard is sweet and creamy yet tart and lemony.  And the crust?  Do I still need to convince you of graham cracker's beauty?  It compliments the sweet, lemony custard perfectly.

This super duper, foolproof lemon square recipe is perfect.

I strongly suggest you give this one a try when you can.  Like right now?

Tell me all about it in the comments!

Til the next post!