Fresh Squeezed Lemon Bars

What to do with a paper bag full of lemons....

I was faced with this dilemma at work this week when one of my coworkers gave me a bag of lemons that they had picked from their lemon tree which had been over-producing to an excessive extent.

Since lemons are used frequently in Greek cooking, I knew I would be able to put them to some sort of use. I decided to make the two recipes seen here, one for my Mom's tasty Potato Lemon Chicken and the other for a delightfully English dessert known as Lemon Bars.

For these Lemon Bars I infused two different recipes I'd used before into one, basically just picking what I liked most from each. They turned out lovely, especially with the sprinkled powdered sugar on top. They also go really well with a nice cup of Princess Earl Grey, which is basically Earl Grey tea infused with rose petals...elegant AND delicious. There's a similiar tea that's a bit easier to find called Zhena's Gypsy Tea in Gypsy Love that's quite similar and I know for a fact that New Seasons caries it. The rose and lemon flavors go incredibly well together. Now that I think about it, I will have to add a few tablespoons of rose water the next time I make these.

Ingredients:

Crust

2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg

Lemon Filling

4 Eggs

Juice from 2 Lemons

2 cups Granulated Sugar

1/4 Cup Flour
2 Tbsp Grated Lemon Rind

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl cream together the sugars, butter and salt until smooth. Stir in the flour. Press onto the bottom of a 9 x 13 greased baking pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden.

While the crust is baking, whisk together the eggs, flour, sugar, lemon juice and lemon rind until smooth. Pour into the pan over the baked crust and bake again for 25 minutes or until the lemon is set. Let it cool and then cut into bars. Makes about 20 bars.