Whenever we discover a recipe we like, or in this case rediscover a recipe we haven’t made in awhile we can’t help but come up with variations. That is exactly what happened with our lemon square recipe. The lemon is great, but we thought why not try lime or orange? So, we did, and now we have two new favourite squares.
When we decided to try the variations, we also thought we should try making a thicker base as well. Mom looked at the recipe and figured out the math and you now have the option of the original shortbread base or a thicker shortbread base. Mom and I like the thicker base for the lemon and lime, and the original base sans coconut for the orange. No matter which options you chose we know they will turn out delicious.
For the orange topping we had to make a few adjustments. Orange juice is much sweeter and a bit subtler than lemon and lime juice. To ensure the orange square had enough tang and flavour we added 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and ½ teaspoon of orange extract. Both are optional but just know that the lemon juice really helps to bring out the flavour of the orange. We always a small bottle of lemon juice in the fridge and if you do too then you won’t have to squeeze an entire lemon for those extra two teaspoons.
Once we had the recipes perfected, we knew we had to make all three to take photos of them together. We added food colouring to each of them to ensure they were easy to tell apart and they turned out so pretty. It was a lot of fun to figure out what we could use to photograph them together and separately. Originally, we thought to use the picture of the lemon square from last weeks post but because we had paired it with a yellow and blue tablecloth, we decided to take the pictures again. It was worth the extra work, and are very pleased with the results.
We are excited to share these two variations with you, we enjoyed making them, photographing them, and eating them. We hope you will enjoy them too!
Original Base Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup icing sugar
½ cup salted butter at room temperature
⅓ shredded sweetened coconut (optional)
Thicker Base Ingredients
1½ cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp icing sugar
¾ salted butter at room temperature
⅓ shredded sweetened coconut (optional)
Dice butter into ½” square pieces, leave them on the cutting board to come to room temperature. In a large bowl whisk together the flour and icing sugar. Add the room temperature butter tossing in the flour until covered.
Squeeze the butter between the tips of your fingers and thumb working it into the flour and sugar. Once the pieces of butter are smaller you can use two knives to cut the butter until most of the mixture is fine crumbs. Stir in coconut.
Pour the mixture into an 8” by 8” square pan lined with parchment paper. Spread the crumbs until they evenly coat the bottom of the pan.
Use an offset spatula, the bottom of a measuring cup or your hand to gently pat the crumbs down. Bake in a 350°F oven for 25 minutes until golden. Allow to cool slightly on a cooling rack.
Topping Ingredients
2 large eggs at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp lemon, lime or orange rind
¼ cup lemon, lime or orange* juice
¼ all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
⅛ tsp or a pinch of salt
2 tbsp icing sugar for sprinkling on top once baked
*If you are doing an orange topping add 2 tsp of lemon juice and ½ tsp of orange extract.
In a medium sized bowl or a large measuring cup beat the room temperature eggs and sugar with a hand mixer until pale, thick, and the volume has almost doubled.
Gently beat in the juice and rind, then add the flour mixture until just incorporated.
We added food colouring to the mixture at this point. It is optional but it helps to let you know what flavour you are having.
Pour over the base and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and set in the middle.
Allow to cool completely.
Once cooled sprinkle with icing sugar. Cut into squares, or if you want smaller pieces into triangles. Enjoy!
Citrus Squares
Ingredients
Original Base
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup icing sugar
- ½ cup salted butter at room temperature
- ⅓ cup sweetened shredded coconut (optional)
Thicker Base
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 6 tbsp icing sugar
- ¾ cup salted butter at room temperature
- ⅓ cup sweetened shredded coconut (optional)
Lemon or Lime Topping
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon or lime rind
- ¼ cup lemon or lime juice
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp or a pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp icing sugar for sprinkling on top once baked
Orange Topping
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp orange extract (optional)
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt or a pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp icing sugar for sprinkling on top once baked
Instructions
Base
- Dice butter into ½" square pieces, leave them on the cutting board to come to room temperature. In a large bowl whisk together the flour and icing sugar.
- Add the room temperature butter tossing in the flour until covered.
- Squeeze the butter between the tips of your fingers and thumb working it into the flour and sugar.
- Once the pieces of butter are smaller you can use two knives to cut the butter until most of the mixture is fine crumbs. Stir in coconut.
- Pour the mixture into an 8” by 8” square pan lined with parchment paper. Spread the crumbs until they evenly coat the bottom of the pan.
- Use an offset spatula, the bottom of a measuring cup or your hand to gently pat the crumbs down.
- Bake in a 350°F oven for 25 minutes until golden. Allow to cool slightly on a cooling rack.
Topping
- In a medium sized bowl or a large measuring cup beat the room temperature eggs and sugar with a hand mixer until pale, thick, and the volume has almost doubled.
- Gently beat in the juice and rind, then add the flour mixture until just incorporated. If you like you can add food colouring at this point.
- Allow to cool completely.
- Once cooled sprinkle with icing sugar. Cut into squares, or if you want smaller pieces into triangles. Enjoy!
