Lemon Bars
makes 9 bars or 18 small bites

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, plus more for dusting bars
pinch salt
1 stick  unsalted butter softened, plus more for greasing

Filling:
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup fine sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a non stick pan 8 by 8
Make the crust by combining  flour, confectioner’s sugar, salt into a bowl. Add butter and mix with your hands to make pea size crumbs.  Turn into the greased pan and press the dough down into the bottom of the pan covering it all. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Take out and cool.
While crust is baking make filling by using an electric mixer to combine the eggs, sugar, zest, juice, flour and baking soda. Mix until smooth. Pour filling into baked crust and bake for 35 minutes until filling is set. Take out of the oven let cool and cut into 9 bars. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve.

Lemon Pound Cake

Ingredient

• 1/2 pound butter , at room temperature
• 3 cups cake flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 5 egga, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• zest of one lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream together the butter and  sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs yolks, lemon juice and zest scraping down the sides of the bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the whites until fluffy, continue beating until stiff peaks form. Gently fold some of the flour mixture into the yolk mixture, then some of the whites, and continue alternating this way until you have a well-combined, smooth, fluffy batter. Pour the batter into the tube pan. Make sure to avoid air pockets. Place on baking sheet in the oven for 55 to 60 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Remove and cool for 10 minutes then invert on rack to finish cooling. Once cool remove from pan and place on tray and serve.

Lemon Ice Box Pie
CONTRIBUTED BY DAVID GUAS
TOTAL TIME: 1 HR PLUS 7 HR COOLING AND FREEZING
SERVINGS: MAKES ONE 9-INCH PIE
MAKE-AHEAD
STAFF-FAVORITE
This silken frozen pie is adapted from Clancy’s, one of David Guas’s favorite New Orleans neighborhood restaurants. (Recipe adapted from DamGoodSweet.)

Ingredients

14 whole graham crackers, broken
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Two 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cups fresh lemon juice, plus 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
8 large egg yolks

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325°. In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers with the sugar and salt until finely ground but not powdery. Add the butter and pulse until the crumbs are evenly moistened; transfer to a 9-inch springform pan and press into the bottom and two-thirds up the side. Set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, whisk the condensed milk with the lemon juice. In another bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the lemon zest with the egg yolks until pale. Beat in the condensed milk mixture until smooth. Pour the filling into the crust.
Bake the pie for 25 minutes, until the center jiggles slightly and the edges are set. Transfer the pan to a rack; let cool for 1 hour. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze the pie for at least 6 hours.
Wrap a warm, damp kitchen towel around the side of the springform pan to release the pie; remove the ring. Using a hot knife, slice the pie, transfer to plates and serve.