Think of a tart, crunchy lemon pie-in-a-bar. These are from Happiness Is Baking by Maida Heatter.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 (14- or 15-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 5¹⁄³ ounces (1¼ sticks plus 2 teaspoons) unsalted butter
- 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking rolled oats
- OPTIONAL: confectioners’ sugar
About this recipe
Makes 24 or 32 squares These are rich layered bars with a baked-in tart lemon filling. They should be refrigerated until serving time.
Excerpted from HAPPINESS IS BAKING Copyright © 2019 by Maida Heatter. Used with permission of Little, Brown and Company, New York. All rights reserved.
Instructions
Adjust a rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Pour the condensed milk into a medium mixing bowl. Add the grated lemon zest and then, gradually, add the lemon juice, stirring with a small wire whisk to keep the mixture smooth. (The lemon will thicken the milk.) Set the mixture aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add the brown sugar and beat well. On lowest speed, gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating only until thoroughly mixed. Mix in the rolled oats. The mixture will be crumbly — it will not hold together.
Sprinkle a bit more than half of the oatmeal mixture (2 generous cups) evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Pat the crumbs firmly with your fingertips to make a smooth, compact layer. Drizzle or spoon the lemon mixture evenly over the crumb layer and spread it to make a thin smooth layer. Sprinkle the remaining crumbly oat mixture evenly over the lemon layer. Pat the crumbs gently with the palm of your hand to smooth them — it is OK if a bit of the lemon layer shows through in small spots.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cake is lightly colored.
Cool the cake completely in the pan. Then refrigerate it for about 1 hour (or more).
With a small, sharp knife, cut around the sides of the cake to release it. Cut it into small squares. With a wide metal spatula, remove the squares from the pan; transfer them to a serving plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
If you like, just before serving, the squares may be topped with confectioners’ sugar. Use your fingertips to press the sugar through a fine strainer held over the squares. (It is best to have the squares on wax paper while coating them with sugar.)
