Lemon Grammy Squares



My Gramma loves Lemon Pie. But it's something she only ever has at restaurants because she's the only one in the family that thinks lemon has any business gettin' itself in dessert. She raised two die-hard chocolate-lovin' daughters who can't help but make gagging noises when someone mentions lemon and pie in the same sentence (or pretty much any fruit other than apple.)

But then I came along. The Golden Child. I think my first slice of Lemon Pie came from Sizzler. (Gramma and I used to have a blast at The Sizzler Buffet!) Lemon Pie was A-OK with me, no gagging noises necessary.

North Carolina is sprinkled with Buffet Restaurants called Ryan's. If you've been to Golden Corral you've pretty much been to Ryan's. (I think they must be owned by the same company because their food is exactly the same as far as I can remember, and you never have them both in the same town.) They both have these INCREDIBLE yeast rolls with melted butter on top that, mark my words, SOME DAY I will master the art of making, and they both have a lemon pie that I fell in love with while I was there.

The kind-hearted folks in Virginia and North Carolina took us missionaries to Ryan's a lot. I totally get it now. Sometimes you just don't have time to make your house presentable or make a dinner you think someone that's not legally married to you will want to eat. (I also always served in areas immediately after Elders had been there for years, so I think people got wise to the fact that it's a whole lot easier to fill up hard-working 19-21 year old boys on the few dollars it costs for a buffet than for the amount you would normally spend on groceries for that large of a meal.)

Plus, if it's a treat for your family to go out to eat, it's gotta be a treat for the missionaries, too, right? The problem was everybody had that same idea. You don't notice that ALL of a buffet's food tastes the same until you eat there a few times a week.

But the aforementioned Rolls From Heaven, and those little triangles of refreshing Lemon Meringue Pie all lined up on those big steel trays and sitting on little white paper doilies made up for any other food-crimes buffets inherently commit. I could force myself to eat just enough other stuff so that stories wouldn't circulate about that red-headed sister missionary that only eats rolls and pie.

My attempts at recreating the perfect lemon pie have come to no avail. I don't like the corn starchy recipes. They remind me of gravy. (Lemon + Gravy = Involuntary Gagging Noises.) But any lemon pie recipe that calls for Jello is just plain wrong. (I may be a lazy cook, but I'd like to think I'm better than Jello for goodness sakes.) After we moved to Paradise I noticed 2 of our grocery stores carry personal sized pies from a restaurant up in Washington. They make a Sour Cream Lemon Pie that is everything I could ever want from a pie you don't have to make yourself. mmmmm... My mouth is watering just thinking about it. But at $2.99 each, it is reserved for special-occasions only. Someday I'll attempt a Sour Cream Lemon Pie recipe, but that day has not yet arrived.

Until then I've found the perfect solution in this recipe. I was so excited to make some for Gramma when she came up to visit. I KNEW she would appreciate them, and she did. I saw her melt a little with her first bite. Mission accomplished.

And since these are WAYYY easier to make than any pie, it's a little hard to convince myself to experiment with a recipe I might hate. Does it seem weird to anyone else to give away a pie with a missing piece?

"Here, I made this pie and I hated it, but you might like it." (???)

Not sure how to sell that one yet.

For now I'll stick with these ...

Lemon Grammy Squares

Filling:

1 can (14 oz.) Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 cup Lemon Juice (using fresh really does make a difference, but either way is great.)

 Combine above (filling) and set aside

Crust and Topping:

1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs (about 24 Squares)

3/4 cup Flour

1/3 cup Packed Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 pinch Salt

1/2 cup melted Butter

Press half of (above) crumb mixture in 9" square baking dish.

Pour in lemon mixture.

Sprinkle with the rest of the crumbs.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.