Lemonies

I recently found this recipe on Pinterest and thought it looked absolutely wonderful! While I'm normally more of a chocolate fan, I thought these would make for a nice change from my normal baking routine. Plus, how can you not adore the name lemonies (lemon + brownies.)

Before I made these lemonies, I was a little concerned that they would be nothing more than a lemon square (I mean that's pretty much what the recipe sounds like - plus it's been so long since I've had an actual lemon square I couldn't really remember the difference.) After looking at a few recipes (and pictures online) I found that these do seem to have a more solid "cake-like" texture than traditional lemon squares. I also found them extremely easy to bake (the only issue I really had was the fact that lemonies seemed to rise very unevenly - though pressing the finished dessert back into a flat layer was quite easy while it was fresh from the oven.) I did bake them in a 9" round pan rather than the recommend 8x8 - but I don't really think that would cause the uneven rising.

As far as the finished result, I'm still partial to "real" chocolate brownies, but these lemonies definitely are a nice change. I did discover that my Korean co-workers aren't quite as fond as lemon desserts as I might have hoped. You would have though I had given them real lemons to suck based on their expression after one bite. One of them even compared the taste to soap! I guess it's a good thing that I enjoy them at least.

Lemon Brownies

¾ C flour
¾ C sugar
¼ t salt
½ c. butter (1 stick butter), softened
2 eggs
juice from ½ lemon (about 1 T.)
zest from ½ (about 1 t.)

Preheat over to 350°F (178°C). Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Mix in the softened butter. In another bowl whisk the eggs with the lemon juice and zest. Add to the flour/sugar mixture and stir well. Pour into greased 8x8 brownie pan and back for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool, then glaze.
You can double the recipe and bake in a 9x13 pan for 30 minutes.


Glaze

½ c. powdered sugar
1 T lemon juice
additional lemon zest

Combine to create a thin glaze, and spread over the cooled lemonies.