Super Lemon!

I've always been a fan of anything lemony. One of my favourite candies when I was young was Super Lemon - a yellow, round, hard candy that, the moment you pop into your mouth, hits you with its shocking first taste of intense lemon sourness, before giving way finally to a mellow lemon-flavoured sweetness. For a child who was not particularly into sweets, I consumed quite an unhealthy amount of Super Lemon, especially when my parents weren't looking (to the extent sometimes that my mouth was corroded by the acid .. but that's a gross topic for another day).

Anyway, the point of this is that "Super Lemon!" was my first thought when I first bit into these Ultimate Lemon Butter Bars, made from a recipe by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I'll have to say that this is one of the best recipes I have ever baked from - the instructions were precise and the proportions, perfect. The Lemon Bars had a deliciously smooth and lemon-tangy curd (which was soft to the bite but yet firm enough to be cut beautifully), and most importantly, a crisp shortbread base, avoiding the sogginess that tends to plague desserts of this sort. The bars stayed good and fresh for at least 2 days in the fridge, after which the base understandably got a little softer and definitely lost its 'snap', although as a testament to Rosy's skill and recipe it still never got quite so bad as to be completely soggy. This recipe is a keeper, and if you have a craving for lemons, you can try it here.