When life gives you lemons…

… make lemon bars!

Life has been throwing lemons at me left, right and center. Jokes on you because I’m going to use the lemons to make more desserts! Ha!

I’ve been on “summer vacay” for a week now, but I don’t feel relaxed at all. This has probably been the longest week of my life. Job hunting is soooo tiring, it drags my days into weeks. I swear I’ve been at it for a month! I started to feel really discouraged when I didn’t hear back from all the places that I applied to. But yesterday, I decided to take a break from interviews and handing in resumes and that’s when I finally realized I’ve only been looking for a job for a couple days! I’m impatient like that 😛 And I thought that I must’ve applied to at least 10 different places by now but turns out I’ve only applied to 6 jobs and I heard back from 5 of them! I don’t know what my deal was, but I was just so busying prepping Q&A for interviews, writing resumes and looking for jobs that I lost track of time. I was consumed in it. 

I got a job offer today (finally!) and it felt so good! I may or may not have skipped my way out of the place after my interview. And I may or not may have called my sister and twinner as soon as I was out of sight from my future boss. I couldn’t even make out words because I was so excited, all I did was squeal and laugh uncontrollably. Sadly, the laughter continued even when I went on the bus, now even more people think that I’m weird 😛

I have yet to accept the job because I’m waiting for another. Don’t you hate it when this happens? What if the second job never gets back to me and I end up losing the first job?! What if I accept the first job and then the second job gets back to me the next day?! I can’t quit the one I just accepted, it’s so unprofessional! Oh and besides these two, I have a third employer who wants an interview tomorrow. I have weaved a very tangled web, and I need to make some decisions asap! If you’ve been reading for awhile, you’ll know that I’m the best at being indecisive. 

Okay so maybe these aren’t life ruining problems, but I’m a perfectionist and I expect life to always work out for me. So whenever I encounter a tiny problem, it feels like the END OF THE WORLD for me. Another problem of mine is that I’m never satisfied with what I have. This morning, before the job offer, I told myself that I needed to rock the interview because I HAVE TO HAVE THAT JOB. Now that I got accepted for the position, I don’t really want it anymore. I have issues 🙁

Sorry for the essay, I guess I just needed a lame excuse to explain my absence from the blog 😛 Without further ado, I present to you LEMON BARS!!!!! These were super easy to make and so good! Warning: the lemon custard topping was SUPER sour. I swear, my mom’s face stayed wrinkled up for about 10 minutes.

Lemon Bars

Ingredients

For the crust:

  • 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar (2 oz/55 g)
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (7 1/2 oz/215 g)
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (6 oz/170 g) (I used salted)
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts (2 oz/55g) (optional)

For the filling:

  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (2 1/2 oz/70 g)
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar (1 pound/455 g) (I used 1 3/4 cups)
  • 1 cup plus 2 tbsp lemon juice (9 oz/28o ml) (I used 1 cup)
  • lemon zest, grated from 1 small lemon (I zested 2 lemons)
  • 6 large whole eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • salt pinch
  • confectioners’ sugar for topping

How To

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and butter/spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

2. To make the crust: sift the confectioners’ sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir in the flour. Add the butter and pine nuts (if using) and beat on low speed just until a smooth dough forms.

3. Press the dough evenly into the pan and allow it to come up about a 1/2 inch up the sides of the pan. 

4. Bake the crust until it is a deep golden brown, about 25-35 minutes.

5. To make the filling: While the crust is baking sift the flour into a mixing bowl and whisk in the sugar until blended. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to dissolve the sugar. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the whole eggs and egg yolk with the salt. Add the eggs to the lemon juice mixture and whisk until well mixed.

5. Once the crust is ready pour the filling directly into the pan. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. and bake just until the center of the custard is set, about 30 to 40 minutes.

6. Let cool completely on a wire rock, then cover and chill well before cutting. Cut into squares and dust the top with confectioners’ sugar, if desired. They will keep in an airtight container or well covered in the baking dish in the refrigerator for up to 4 days

Source: Lemons and Anchovies

Join the Conversation

  1. I am a sucker for tangy lemony sweets! Those look divine!

  2. AHH I love lemon bars!!! Must make these over summer break 🙂

    1. u must! citrus desserts are the epitome of summer!

  3. ou.prieb says:

    Congratulations twinner! I’m soo happy for you! (: (: (: And those lemon bars… they look super delicious! They remind me of my bake sale during high school economics class!

    1. we weren’t allowed to do bake sales cuz the population is becoming more obese LOLOL

      iunno what im gonna do without u when u go back to thailand :'(

  4. congrats on your job offers!
    you better get back to those offers soon!!

    mmm those lemon bars look delish!
    cant wait to see you next week (in class D= )

    1. oh yeah! i expect to eat yummy baked goods from you every week! =D

      1. herro m’dear! i will try my best to find u sugar-filled goods to u on a weekly basis 😛

  5. Your lemon bars sound delicious, and you took fantastic pictures of them! Did you try something different/new with your photography? They’re really professional looking.

    1. ahaha u think my photos are professional looking?!?!?! thank you!!!
      i don’t feel that my way of taking photos have changed much since i started blogging but basically there are a few key things i make sure to do when i take pictures now:

      1. use natural light. open all the windows you can (i even open my back door sometimes to let in light) and i try to only take photos on sunny days

      2. use a backdrop for diff colours and variety. i don’t think i’m doing this part right but basically i just prop a piece of poster board behind my object on the wall.

      3. use props. i noticed that cloth napkins are really popular in food photography as well as a white wooden board for placing underneath the object. then just set some cups/glasses, scatter some of the ingredients in the recipe around just to make the picture more fun to look at

      4. use an image editing program just to enhance brightness/colour

      hope this helps ! 😀

  6. Oh yum! I’ve actually never had lemon bars! You gotta tell me more about those job offers when I see you again! 😀

    1. ahaha actually karen, it was just one job offer. and oh my goodness, YOU’VE NEVER HAD LEMON BARS BEFORE?!???! *GASP*

      1. Never ever ever! LOL i can only imagine what they taste like 🙁 *nudge nudge* MAKE ME SOME 😀

  7. Baking makes EVERYTHING better!! These bars look sooo good. Congrats on the jobs!! Good luck choosing one, and if you commit to one that you aren’t going to be happy with there is nothing wrong with respectfully informing them that this job is not a proper fit for you.

    1. thanks for the advice! im just really afraid that my employer will get mad at me 🙁 but so far he seems like a giant teddy bear with a really kind heart

  8. Love lemon bars! We used to make em out of a box mix but they were still good :)!

    1. ahaha i have to admit, box mixes are pretty darn good. ie. duncan hines vanilla cake!

  9. Love lemon bars, have always wanted to try orange or lime bars, but those sweet tangy lemons always convince me to stay with the proven crowd pleaser.

    1. omg i was thinking about how oranges would fare in place of lemon. i have never even heard of anyone making orange bars before so im super curious about it! let me know how it turns out if u ever give it a try 😀

  10. Ahhh congratulations on the job!!! That’s so exciting! Though I seriously think opening your own bakery should be your full-time job. Yum! I don’t even like lemon much but I want to eat the screen 🙂

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