charisstoma

Creamy Lemon Squares
http://www.marthastewart.com/337330/creamy-lemon-squares

The lemon bars of your dreams take just 15 minutes of prep: Stir together a mere three ingredients to create a sunny, puckery filling for a buttery shortbread crust.

PREP: 15 MINS TOTAL TIME: 45 MINS YIELD: MAKES 16

INGREDIENTS

Crust
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)

Filling
4 large egg yolks
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.
Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper.

Make crust:
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy.
Add flour, and mix on low just until combined.
Press dough into the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan; prick all over with a fork.
Bake until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Make filling:
In a large bowl, whisk together yolks, condensed milk, and lemon juice until smooth.
Pour over hot crust in pan; return to oven, and bake until filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes.
Cool completely in pan.
Refrigerate until filling is firm, about 2 hours or up to 3 days.
Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into 16 squares, and dust with confectioners sugar.

Buttery Shortbread Pastry Dough

By Janie Hibler Fine Cooking Issue 79 http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/buttery-shortbread-pastry-dough

Yield: Yields enough dough for 1 single pie crust, 8 mini tarts, or 12 turnovers.
This versatile dough can be used for everything from tarts to pie crust to turnovers. The dough is quite soft, but all the butter in the recipe makes it forgiving and easy to work with. When baked, the crust is very tender—almost like a shortbread cookie.

Ingredients

9 oz. (2 cups) bleached all purpose flour
7 oz. (14 Tbs.) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 Tbs. chilled heavy cream
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. table salt

Preparation

In a food processor, combine the flour, butter, egg, sugar, cream, lemon juice, and salt and pulse until the dough starts gathering together in big clumps, as shown below. Turn the dough out onto a counter and gather it together. Shape the dough as directed in the recipe you’re making.

Pie Crust
Shape the dough into a 1-inch-thick disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate to firm a bit, 20 to 30 min. You want the dough to remain pliable enough to roll, but not so soft that it’s sticky and difficult to move once it’s rolled out. Lightly flour a clean surface and your rolling pin. Roll out the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick round. (Run a dough scraper under the dough after every few passes of the rolling pin to prevent sticking, and reflour the surface as necessary.) Lay the rolling pin in the center of the crust, fold the pastry over it, and transfer it to a 9-inch pie pan. Gently press the dough into the pan. Trim the overhang to about 1/2 inch. (You’ll have about 6 ounces of excess dough.) Fold the overhang under to build up the edge of the pastry; crimp to flute the edges. Prick the entire surface, including the sides, with a fork. Cover loosely and refrigerate for half an hour. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400°F.

Apply a light coating of nonstick cooking spray to one side of a piece of aluminum foil that’s slightly larger than the diameter of the pie pan. Line the pan with the foil, oiled side down, going up and over the edges, and fill with pie weights, raw rice, or dried beans. Set the pie pan on a baking sheet and bake for 20 min. Carefully remove the foil and pie weights and bake until the crust is golden brown, about another 15 min. Transfer the pie crust to a rack and let cool while you make the filling.