Cream Cheese Lemon Square （Bake Along #82) ~ 乳酪柠檬方块

It Bake Along baking time! In this round Bake Along #82, Joyce have chosen to bake Lemon Bars. Ever since i last baked Lemon Bars here my hubby have been loving this kind of lemon bars. Every now and then he would request for it. Last week i told him i am going to bake Cream Cheese Lemon Squares  for our 15th wedding anniversary he can't agreed more. (i am actually one stone kill two birds; baking for my anniversary and baking for Bake Along #82... lol)

As mention in the book 'Back to Baking' by Anna Olson, 

'Cream cheese as the real secret behind these refrigerated lemon squares-its lends richness and a tang that enhances the tart lemon.'

My hubby and i just simply love the creamy, tangy lemon cream cheese filling. The light and buttery shortbread cookie like base pairs so well with the cream cheese lemon filling. 

You don't need a mixer to make this, just a food processor will do the job. Get ready the ingredients. First, make the shortbread cookie base. Add flour and sugar into the food processor, pulse to combine. Add in butter and pulse until mixture is even. (do not over work the dough as it will shrink when bake, mine was a bit shrunk after bake :p)

Press the cookie dough into a prepared 8 inches baking tray. (greased and lined baking pan with parchment paper that comes up to the sides; i am running out of parchment paper, i used aluminum foil) Bake for 15-18 minutes and let it cool.

While waiting for the shortbread crust to cool, prepare the lemon filling. 

Add cream cheese and half cup of sugar into the food processor and pulse till smooth. (The recipe call for 1 and a half cup of sugar but i only 3/4 cup. The sweetness is just nice for us)

Add in remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, baking powder, flour, lemon zest and blend. Then add in eggs, lemon juice and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides if needed. Pour into cool crust. (the filling is very watery but no don't worry, it will set at it bake)

Cream Cheese Lemon Squares

Recipe adapted from 'Back to Baking' By Anna Olson

 Makes 1 8 inches square baking pan

Ingredients for base:

130g (1 cup) all-purpose flour

  50g (1/4 cup) sugar

113g (1/2 cup) butter

Ingredients for lemon layer:
125g (1/2 pkg) cream cheese, at room temperature

150g (3/4 cup) sugar (originally is 1 1/2 cup)

  32g (1/4 cup) all-purpose flour

2 tsp finely grated lemon zesst

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup lemon juice

4 eggs

To Do:

Preheat oven at 175C. Grease and line an 8 inch (20cm) square pan with parchment paper so that the paper comes up to the sides.

To do the base, pulse flour and sugar in a food processor to combine.
Add in butter and pulse until the mixture is an even, crumbly texture but the dough should not come together. Press this into the prepared pan. 
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the base turns golden around the edges. 
Prepare lemon filling while the crust cool.

To do the lemon filling, pulse cream cheese with half cup of sugar until smooth. Add remaining sugar, the flour, lemon zest and baking powder and blend. Add in lemon juice and eggs and blend again until smooth. Scrape down the sides to let all the ingredients blend well. Pour the filling over the cool crust.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the edges are set and just show sign of souffléing but the center should still have a hit of a jiggle to it. (i bake mine for 33 minutes) Cool the squares to room temperature and chilled for at least 3 hours before slicing. The squares can be kept in fridge for up to 3 days.

This post is link to Bake Along #82, Lemon Bars host by

Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids,

 and I'm also sharing this post with :
Cook-Your-Books #25 @ kitchen flavours

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