When life gives you lemons, make Lemon Crumb Squares!

I have tons of lemons!  The nicest lady in my Saturday morning boot camp class has been bringing bags of lemons, oranges and grapefruit to class to share with all of us.  At first I took just a few, but the next week when she brought another bag, I greedily took a bunch- cause I had just the recipe in mind.  Last year on thekitchn they had a great looking recipe for Lemon Rolls.  I had bookmarked it and it lay there waiting for me in all its lemony deliciousness, just waiting...

Lemonpalooza

Sadly those Lemon Rolls that I have been waiting for so patiently did not come out.  *tear*  I was being lazy and did not check the temperature of my milk before I added the yeast in and I think I killed it!  Yeast is activated at somewhere around 100 degrees but is killed at 115 degrees.  Moody little sucker.  While my lemon hockey pucks somewhat defeated me for the night, I woke up with a new determination to make something great with the rest of my lemons.

Enter Pioneer Woman's Lemon Crumb Squares!  Just the other week my friend Aims had some extra Meyer Lemons that she wanted to use and this is one of the recipes we found.  So here is my second attempt at some lemony goodness...

Lemony Creamy Goodness

Lemon Crumb Squares
from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

1-⅓ cup All-purpose Flour
½ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 stick (1/2 Cup) Butter, Slightly Softened
1 cup Brown Sugar (lightly Packed)
1 cup Oats
1 can (14 Ounce) Sweetened Condensed Milk
½ cups Lemon Juice
Zest Of 1 Lemon

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined.
2.  Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add oats and flour to butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine.

3.  Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 11 inch pan.

4.  Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture.

5.  Top with the other half of the crumb mixture, but don’t press.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

I added some almond slices to half to see how it turned out...

Allow pan to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Cut into squares and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until cool.  Serve cool.

These bars were a hit at work!  I thought they tasted great right out of the fridge too.  It would be cool to experiment and maybe add some ginger spice to the crumb topping as well.