Lemon Slice

When I was teaching at Marcellin College Miss Kirk was renowned for her tangy lemon slice which she shared with the staff on numerous occasions. A generous and prolific baker she was reputed to have worn out a Kenwood mixer. I never did ask her to divulge the recipe but here is the closest I have come to producing the perfect lemon slice.

For this recipe I was inspired by a Canadian Cookbook I found in an op shop  : Land O Lakes Treasury of Country Recipes. This large hardback book cost me the princely sum of $2.00 and it is an excellent source of traditional American Cooking.

When using American recipes I usually find that because our kiwi palate is not as sweet as theirs I need to cut back on the sugar, sometimes quite drastically. But not in this recipe. The base was not too sweet at all. I did add an extra tablespoon of lemon juice to the sugary filling to make it a little sharper.

The recipe ( which was originally called Lemon-Butter bars) specifies sugar, I used castor. And I speeded up the making of the pastry by doing it in my food processor.

This is quite a rich slice so I cut it into dainty squares.

Preheat the oven to 180C

Base:

Ingredients:
200 grams of plain flour
4 tablespoons of castor sugar
125 grams of butter/margerine softened

Method: Put all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz in bursts until the mixture becomes crumbly and a creamy colour and when a little is squuezed between thumb and forefinger it will hold together.This may take 1-2 minutes.

Press on the bottom of a lightly greased and baking paper lined baking tin.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.

Filling:

150 grams of sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Put the filliing ingredients into a microwave safe bowl.
Microwave the filling on high , stirring every minute until it is warm and slightly thickened. This can take 2-4 minutes ( it took only 2 in mine)
Pour over the hot crust
Return to the oven and continue to bake for 18-20 minutes , or until the filling is set.
Sprinkle with icing sugar
Cool and cut into small squares.