Yesterday was my birthday (Happy birthday to meeeee…happy birthday to meeeeee) and so I went into full baking mode, but I won’t bore you with any recipes for brownies or Victoria sponge, I’ll give you the recipe for the B.E.S.T Lemon Squares (or lemon cake, or bars, whatever you call them) you’ll ever eat.

Seriously, there is nothing like this sweet treats. Nothing. You will never (ever) need another recipe for lemon bars after you’ve tried this one. The face on the people when they bite into one of this moist, light, fluffy, sweet, lemony squares, says it all. There’s “Ohhhhh” and “Ahhhh” and big smiles. Very Big Smiles.

I made a batch of these and a batch of brownies to take to work and guess what? All the lemon squares were gone before anyone touched the brownies. That says it all.

So, this is a birthday present, from me to you: a recipe which you’ll treasure forever, I can assure you.

Ingredients (for a baking tray of 16cm X 21cm)

The zest and juice of 1 and a half lemons

165 grs plain flour

165 grs melted butter at room temperature

200 grs sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder.

For the lemon glaze:

Half a cup of icing sugar

1 tablespoon (and maybe a bit more) of lemon juice.

Note: With a baking tray of 16cm X 21cm I got 12 rather plump squares, you can use a bigger tray and get more (flatter) bars.

How to:

1.- Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, and if you are taking photos, try not to have your nail varnish chipped, as I did…(embarrassing…)

2.- Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and the melted butter until you get a light, creamy texture.

The best way is by adding a bit of sugar and an egg yolk at a time to the melted butter.

3.- In a bowl mix the flour with the baking powder and then add to the mixture of butter, eggs and sugar. Then add the lemon juice and lemon zest and fold together until your batter looks like this:

4.- Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form soft peaks:

5.- Add the egg whites to the batter slowly, a bit at a time, folding gently with a spatula so that you incorporate as much air as possible. The mixture will look like this:

5.- Pour the batter in a baking tray lined with baking paper or buttered and dusted with flour. Place in the oven at 180 C for 35 minutes (but check it after 25 minutes because ovens vary).

6.- Let the bars cool down before you spread the glaze over them.

6.- To make the glaze: Mix half a cup of icing sugar and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Adjust adding more lemon juice or icing sugar until you get a consistency that can be spread over the lemon bars when they are cold.

Cut the glazed cake into bars or squares and Enjoy!