Ask me what’s my poison and, as a teetotaller, my response will be a cup of tea. That this is both unsurprising and unexciting, I know already, but still, it’s a grown ups’ drink at least, right? Ask my best friend the same question and the answer you’re likely to get is lemon squash.
No, my best friend– henceforth to be known as Lemony Squashit - is not eight years’ old, but a fully grown adult... One
who also supplements daily pint glasses of lemon squash with snacks of Chewit
sandwiches (a tower of alternating flavoured Chewits squished down into one big,
sticky globule, ready to take out as many teeth as possible in one fell hit).
Huh.
Okay, so perhaps I’m being a little unfair
here. Each to their own, right? Besides, as much as I sanctimoniously pride
myself on eating healthy food and fresh fruit and veg every day, there is no
denying I too have a penchant for foodstuffs I gorged on as a child (Starburst,
toffee bonbons, kola kubes…) and that, moreover, I love my ‘dirty foods’: give
me a fish finger sandwiches complete with plasticky processed cheese and a
generous dollop of mayo and you have yourself one very happy girl; better still
if it’s followed up with a pot of ready-made, processed rice pudding, heated
briefly in the microwave please, so as to zap it fully of the few nutrients it
may have contained prior to being nuked.
So really, who am I to judge if Lemony
Squashit’s drink of choice is one that I thought only children under the age of
about 12 drink? Indeed, rather than knocking it, perhaps the next time I settle
down to a fish finger sandwich, I’ll accompany my meal
with a big glass of lemon squash. So long as I have a pink candy-striped straw
to drink it with.
The name of these bars is a little confusing in that the butter is not browned prior to being used to make the biscuit base; rather it browns and develops a nutty, caramel depth when the biscuits are twice-baked in the oven. In any case, the rich buttery flavour of the shortbread is a perfect match for the lemon curd custard that is baked on top of it. I added desiccated coconut to mine to complement the lemon and add a little more texture to the bars.
Adapted from Tartine's Lemon bars on brown butter shortbread
Makes 20-25 bars
For the brown butter shortbread:
55g icing sugar
215g plain flour
170g unsalted butter, softened/room temperature
55g desiccated coconut (sweetened or
unsweetened), plus extra for sprinkling
For the lemon curd custard:
70g plain flour
455g caster sugar
280ml lemon juice (you’ll need 6-8 lemons for
this and a lot of patience whilst juicing them!)
Zest of one lemon
6 large eggs plus yolk of one large egg
Icing sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 180C (160C for a fan oven)
and grease and line a 9 x 13” baking pan with baking paper.
To make the crust, sift the icing sugar and
flour together into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle
attachment. Add the butter and desiccated coconut and beat on low speed just
until a smooth dough forms.
Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and
press it evenly into the bottom and about 1/2 an inch up the sides of the pan.
It should be about 1/4 inch thick. This might be a bit painstaking but can’t be
helped along by using the bottom of a glass to press the crust down firmly.
Take a strip of parchment paper that is large
enough to cover the entire surface of the biscuit crust and with a pair of
scissors, snip little slits into the paper at random places (this will help to
release any steam when the crust is baking. Place the paper over the crust and
then cover it all with baking beans.
Bake the crust until it starts to turn a golden
brown colour, which should take 25 to 35 minutes. If the crust doesn’t brown a lot, don’t worry
too much, it will bake further once the filling has been added.
Whilst the crust is baking, make the filling by
sifting the flour into a large bowl (ideally one that also acts as a pouring
jug). Add the sugar and whisk to mix, then add the lemon juice and zest and
whisk to dissolve the sugar.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the whole eggs
and egg yolk, then add them to the lemon juice mixture and whisk until well
mixed.
When the crust is ready, remove it from the
oven and remove the baking beans and top sheet of parchment. Pull out your oven shelf slightly and place the
crust back onto it, then pour the filling directly onto the crust (it’s much
easier to pour the custard into the pan when the pan is already in the oven). Sprinkle
your extra desiccated coconut over the custard.
Reduce the oven temperature to 150C (140C fan)
and bake it until the centre of the custard is just set, which should be
another 30 to 40 minutes.
Allow to cool completely on a wire rack, then chill
well before cutting.
