Creamy Lemon Squares

From one of my favorite chef’s Anna Olsen

Makes 1 8-inch square pan

Cuts into squares

Ingredients:

Base:
1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling:

½ pkg (4 oz) Kraft Philadelphia™ hard cream cheese, at room temperature . Brick

1 ½ cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

½ tsp baking powder

½ cup lemon juice

4 eggs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Grease and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper so that the paper comes up the sides.

To prepare the base, pulse the flour and sugar in a food processor to combine. Add the butter and pulse it 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 the filling while the crust cools.

In the food processor, pulse the cream cheese with ½ of the sugar until smooth. Add the remaining 1cup of sugar, the flour, lemon zest and baking powder and blend. Add the lemon juice and eggs and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor once or twice. Pour the filling over the cooled crust.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the edges are set and just show signs of soufflé-ing a little, but the centre should still have a bit of a jiggle to it. Cool the squares to room temperature before chilling for at least 3 hours before slicing.

The square can be kept refrigerated for up to 3 days.