Smitten Kitchen’s Lemon Bars

Just as I came to terms with my least brilliant idea {beginning a juice cleanse on a Friday}, I texted a friend that just had a baby offering to bring his new family something baked. Mixing whole lemons with sugar and butter was borderline torture.

But it gave me something to do. And even better, it gave me an excuse to visit the most adorable, one-week-new, baby Emilia.

Did you catch the bit about whole lemons? I loved that Smitten Kitchen’s lemon bar recipe called for the entire fruit. When the sugar mixed completely with the citrus, it gave me flashbacks of little kid Kristin begging for these candies at the mall.

I cheated by cutting off the tiniest sliver to make sure they were gift appropriate. And then received text confirmation on my way home that these bars were excellent and that the new grandpa kept going back for more!

I am dying to try this recipe with grapefruits when I’m comfortably zipping my pre-holiday jeans. Til then, I’ll be baking for others!