A sunny dessert for a sunshiny Sunday

Happy sunny Sunday! I really am loving this warm (ok, I guess it could be considered hot…) weather, and I have been using it to spend tons of time out in my garden, reading my books and soaking up the vitamin D from the sun.

But today, as my man and I both have the day off, I wanted to bake something to celebrate summer. So I did a bit of digging into my recipe vault, and came across this wonderful one… for Lemon Brownies! They have the taste of a lemon bar but the texture of a brownie. They are bright-flavoured, super chewy and flavourful, and make any day brighter.

I am pulling these out of the oven in literally 5 minutes! Can’t wait…

Lemon Brownies:

For the brownies:

· 2 large eggs

· 3 tbsp. lemon juice (~1½ large lemons)

· 1 tablespoon lemon zest (~¾ of a lemon)

· ¾ cup all-purpose flour

· ¾ – 1 cup granulated sugar

· ½ cup salted butter (room temperature)

· ½ tsp. salt

· 1½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the lemon glaze:

· 2 tbsp. lemon juice (~1 lemon)

· 1 cup powdered sugar (or more, if you want a thicker glaze)

· 1 tbsp. lemon zest (~¾ lemon, plus more for garnishing)

1) Preheat oven to 350 F

2) In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, lemon juice and lemon zest together. Set aside

3) In a medium bowl, beat together the flour, sugar, butter, salt and vanilla until mixed together well (it should resemble course crumbs at this point)

4) Pour in the egg mixture and beat until smooth and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed

5) Pour the batter into a greased or parchment lined 8×8” pan

6) Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Take out brownies and let cool on the counter for 20 minutes (the brownies will not be done at this point, this is to help with some of the fudginess)**

7) Return to oven and bake for an additional 15 or so minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the brownies cool until the bottom of the pan is cool to touch

8) Make the glaze while the brownies are cooling: pour the lemon juice and zest into 1 cup of powdered sugar. Stir until all of the ingredients are well incorporated. It’s going to look like there isn’t enough liquid at first, but if you keep stirring, you will find that it will turn into a thick glaze. Keep adding in more powdered sugar until it reaches the consistency of molasses

9) Pour the glaze over cooled brownies and sprinkle on additional zest if you'd like