Lemon-Lime Brownie

I've done something bad. I mean really, really bad. I don't know if I should even admit this. Okay, I'll tell you...I...made...a brownie that had no chocolate in it. Gasp! I know, I feel so guilty. I guess I've always known that if there was one thing that could pull me away from chocolate, it would be lemon.

This recipe made its way around the food blog world a while ago and I am glad I finally got around to making it. I had high hopes at the beginning for this brownie (yellowie??) but when I pulled it out of the oven I was a little disappointed. It took forever for everything to cool and the glaze to set, and so finally I just gave up and dug in. I had to find out what it tasted like. Well, it has the taste of a typical lemon square (you guys all know the one I'm referring to right? With the shortbready crust and the lemon-eggy mixture on top), but without all the hassle. This really only did take mere minutes of active kitchen time, which disappointed me. I had just had two days that I had not made anything and I was going through withdrawal and then this only took ten minutes. There was no way that only 10 minutes of baking was going to cure my kitchen withdrawal symptoms. So my solution, make two things in one night. Anyway, when I say I was disappointed with this recipe, I in no way mean I was disappointed with the taste or look of this square. It even tasted better the following day right out of the fridge.

The original recipe that I used called for lemon juice and lemon zest. Well, we always have a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge so that was simple enough, but we don't buy lemons all that often. We do buy limes and so I usually use the zest from the limes and the juice from the bottle. It works, and I get pretty green flecks in stuff. Anyway, so I used 7 limes in this recipe because they were pretty tiny. You'd probably only need 3-4 lemons. But, I was left with 7 zested and unjuiced limes. What to do, what to do? Oh, I know, this weekend is the long weekend. I'll make margarita mix. So, stay tuned for this adventure.

Back to the brownies though. A couple things I would recommend is that you double this recipe (and still put it in an 8x8 pan), because the single batch of batter made the thinnest of layers and I was kinda hoping for something a bit more dense. The other thing was that the glaze recipe I used called for a lot of liquid and not as much icing sugar as I would typically use for a glaze. Because I felt like this glaze was not going to harden up like I wanted it to, I kept adding in extra icing sugar. So much so that I don't actually know how much extra I added in. The original called for 1 C. sugar, 4 tbsp. juice. This wasn't a good ratio for me, so I'm going to say I used 1 1/2 C. sugar, 4 tbsp. juice, but if you want a harder glaze, make sure the mixture isn't watery when you pour it on the brownie and adjust your sugar accordingly.

In other completely unrelated news, I just bought my first silicone muffin pan, and I must say it you don't have one of these, you need to march yourself down to the nearest department store and buy yourself one. Or two. They are amazing. I was sold after removing one muffin from the tin (or silicone). You don't require paper liners which means this is a more economical and environmental option. Plus, the ease alone is worth it. You don't have to try to pry the muffins out with a knife, they simply pop out. It's pure magic. When I say I was quickly sold, I mean I popped one muffin out of this new pan and then went to try (key word try) and remove a muffin from the old metal tins and I quickly realized how fast you can fall in love with a kitchen gadget. (You'd think I was getting paid to sing these praises, but I'm not.) So, back to the lemon brownies.

This recipe has made its way around the blog world extensively. The version I used was from Becky Charms, but the original recipe can be traced back I believe to Rita's Recipes.

On another side note, I may have gotten a little carried away with taking pictures for this post. But it was fun and everything was green so they were just begging for the shots.

Ingredients

Makes thin layer in an 8x8 pan (I'd recommend doubling both the batter and glaze)

Brownie:

3/4 C. All Purpose Flour (I used 1/2 C. Whole Wheat, 1/4 C. All Purpose)

3/4 C. White Sugar

1/4 Tsp. Salt

1/2 C. Butter, softened

2 Eggs

2 Tbsp. Lemon Zest (I used Limes)

2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

Lemon Glaze:

1 1/2 Rounded C. Icing Sugar

4 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

2 Tbsp. Lemon Zest (or Lime)

Directions

~Preheat oven to 350 F.

~Grease an 8x8 baking dish.

~Zest & juice your lemons.

~In your mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt and butter until crumbly.

~Add in zest, juice and eggs. Beat until smooth and creamy.

~Pour into baking dish and until it just begins to turn golden around the edges and a tooghpick comes out clean (23-25 minutes). If you're doubling the recipe (like you should be), adjust the bake time accordingly.

~Let brownies cool on a rack.

~While they are cooling, mix together icing sugar, juice and zest in small bowl. Whisk together and make sure there are no lumps of sugar remaining. (Because I don't have a fine grater for the zest, I had to push the mixture through a sieve to remove all the hard, long chunks of zest.)

~Spread half the glaze over the brownies. Let set.

~Spread the other half of the glaze on top of the first layer. Let set.

Enjoy