Last Sunday was really a great day for me -- figured out how to get to church using public transportation and made it back to the kitchen to rock a four-course meal. I got tired before I finished cooking, but that's not the point. 
I ended up with a really soft dough.
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I was most excited about making lemon bars. Think about it: the house smells like cookies from the crust, you get to nibble on the raw dough and the filling -- lemony heaven! Unfortunately, that was not the case with these.
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I wanted to do another post in the Buy the Book series, so I chose the lemon bar recipe from the Nordstrom Friends & Family Cookbook. Had I just stopped to think, I would've remembered that I really didn't like the lemon bars at the Nordstrom Cafe. I could've used the recipe in Baking Illustrated instead. Not that the recipe in the Nordstrom book is the same as what's in the store, but I dislike the ones in the store so much that I wouldn't have chanced it (had I been thinking). Yes there is really a combination of butter flour and sugar that I don't like. I know it's shocking.
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Things started off well enough. The dough for the crust came together just fine. I started by creaming butter and powdered sugar.
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I then added flour.
I ended up with a really soft dough.
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I got it into the pan and pressed it in as evenly as possible with my fingers.
I moved to the oven. Here is where the problems start. I ended up baking it twice as long as the recipe called for to get the lightly browned color called for. This sent me to Williams-Sonoma later in the week for an oven thermometer. So after 40+ minutes, here's the crust:
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The crust has to cool completely before you can add the filling. To start the filling, beat some eggs add some sugar and beat until pale and thick.
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Whip out your favorite lemon-working tools. Mine are a Microplane and a citrus press. Use whatever you need to get the juice and the zest.
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Add the lemon stuff to the sugar and eggs. The recipe calls for flour and cornstarch too.
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Pour the filling over the crust and bake until "the filling is set -- firm on the edges, but still a little soft in the middle -- 15 to 20 minutes." Yeah. Not so much.
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But what good sweets-loving girl would let this deter her? Certainly not me. I grabbed a fork a pressed on.
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Eeewwww, ick and yuck! These were void of big lemon flavor and too sweet for even me. I couldn't finish a whole bar. Well, I couldn't finish the gooey, runny mess that should have been a bar. I have never been so disappointed. However, the taste was the same as those in the restaurant. Silly me.
Tools of the trade:
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