Recipe: Easy Lemon Squares

I have lots of really cool parts of my job, but some of the most fun things come from my partnership with the Alabama Farmers Federation. In addition to getting to come right into your living rooms every week by way of Simply Southern TV, I get to write a monthly column for Neighbors magazine. 

Each month I get to share some delicious recipes from Southern Bite and, for the past two years, I’ve been featuring recipes from some of the amazing Alabama farmers who help to clothe and feed us. Now, the Federation has given me permission to share those recipes with y’all. 

This recipe for Easy Lemon Squares is one of those recipes and it comes to us from Denise Henry. 

Denise and her late husband, Mike, raised five kids on their family cattle farm in Montgomery County. While they’re regionally famous for their beef dishes, this sweet treat hits the spot, too. 

If you love the classic Gooey Butter Cake, you’re going to love the citrus twist in these bars. The crust is made with a lemon cake mix and the gooey filling combines cream cheese, powdered sugar and eggs. 

This recipe is quick and easy to assemble and can easily be adapted using other flavors of cake mix. I’m thinking a chocolate version would be amazing. 

Should I use a metal pan or glass baking dish? 

I’ve been cooking for more than 30 years and have been working on Southern Bite for more than 13 of those. And though I feel pretty confident in my culinary capabilities, the idiosyncrasies of using a glass versus metal vessel for baking has mostly escaped me for that time. 

Needing several batches of Pecan Chewies for an event a while back, I baked one in a metal pan and another in a glass dish. What I noticed is that the chewies in the metal pan cooked more evenly, browned beautifully and had nice, clean, straight edges. The ones in the glass dish rolled over on themselves around the edges, resulting in less-than-attractive tops. 

A quick Google search proved that the world knew this and just left me out. But when you think about it, it just makes sense. 

Metal pans heat up and cool more quickly since metal is a good conductor of heat. This means more evenly baked goods. 

Glass pans retain heat better, which makes them great for keeping things like casseroles warm after taking them out of the oven. But this can result in overcooked baked goods, as the retained heat can cause things to continue baking even after being taken out of the heat. 

So what does all this mean? 

Well, it means for things like cakes, brownies, bars and cookies, I now recommend using a metal baking pan. But not just any metal baking pan. I recommend the use of a light-colored aluminum pan. Dark-colored pans can cause the outside of baked goods to get too hot and too dark, like with the Strawberry Bread I showed y’all a few years back. 

For things like casseroles, pasta bakes, etc., I recommend using glass baking dishes. 

Just keep in mind that you don’t want to use acidic things in metal pans as the acid will react with the metal. Fruit cobblers, crumbles and other acidic ingredients should always be baked in glass or ceramic. 

A few tips for recipe success 

Start with room-temperature ingredients. They will blend more easily and more thoroughly. 

Beating the cream cheese first makes it smooth and will make adding the other ingredients much easier. 

Use a light-colored aluminum baking pan for the best results (see above). 

If you find the crust difficult to get pressed into the pan, spritz a silicone spatula or your fingers with a little nonstick cooking spray to make the process easier. 

Easy Lemon Squares 

Prep time: 20 minutes 

Cook time: 30 minutes