Baking for Saturday Music Night has now become a habit and yesterday was no exception. I had a can of sweetened condensed milk which needed using so I searched my recipes until Aunt Nettie’s Lemon Squares caught my eye. I hadn’t made them in years, usually going with the more common egg-and-lemon topping over a butter crust made with brown sugar. This one features no eggs! (Eggs are very expensive still, no matter that a certain major political figure said the price would go down if he was elected.) It also features the health benefit of oatmeal in the buttery crust.
This is an easy recipe which doesn’t require an electric mixer and has “normal” ingredients found in most kitchens. The top and bottom layers of the cookie (2/3 cup soft butter, 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup uncooked oatmeal) are mixed with a wooden spoon and the dough divided in half with the first half patted firmly onto parchment which lines an 8×8 inch baking dish.
The filling, which is merely 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice and zest of the lemon stirred together with the sweetened condensed milk until it thickens, is poured and spread over the bottom layer BEFORE it is baked. (Other recipes require partial baking of the bottom layer.) Then cut a piece of waxed paper, mark the pan edges with a gentle knife, put the other half of the dough on it and pat it to the marked edge of the waxed paper. Then pick up the wax paper and flip the flattened dough over the top of the filling, carefully removing the wax paper so as not to tear the dough. (Other recipes do not require such precision. I’m a perfectionist.)
Ready, steady, go! into 350 degree oven for approximately 25 minutes. Don’t overbake. Cool before slicing. It can be refrigerated (or frozen if slices are separately wrapped.)
Ms Chef in Seattle 