You can surprise your mom by doing a nice deed and making her happy by baking for her on Mother’s Day tomorrow! These lemon squares are awesome; they’re tangy and sweet at the same time. For all you cookie dough lovers, you’ll be in dough heaven with this crust. It’s like cookie dough crust, but better because it’s more buttery. I ate a good amount of it before I baked it . . .

Yield: approximately 20 squares or 40 triangles

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 sticks room-temperature unsalted butter
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups flour
• ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

Filling

• 6 eggs
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup flour
• Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350 to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on your oven. Line a 9-by-13-inch pan will aluminum foil or parchment paper and butter or coat with baking spray.
2. To make the crust, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then add the salt and the flour and mix.
3. Press the dough into the baking pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden. Chill the pan in the refrigerator.
4. For the filling, whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale, then whisk in the lemon juice and flour.
5. Take the pan out of the refrigerator and pour the filling into the crust. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is set.
6. Remove the aluminum foil or parchment paper with the bars from the pan and let cool.
7. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar (optional), then cut into squares or triangles.

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa

See previous baking blogs here.