Lemon Graham Squares

I spend every Tuesday evening meeting with the youth group in our church.  It keeps me really busy but has turned into the highlight of my week.  I know teenagers sometimes get a bad wrap, but our kids are awesome!  So driven, so bright and energetic, and so kind to each other.  No Mean Girls in this crowd.  Their great vibes are so infectious, I always leave feeling younger and fortunate to be around such great young people.

 Regardless of what we might be doing that night, (service project, building skills, working towards goals), food is almost always involved, and I am always happy to provide it.  It gives me a chance to experiment with delicious looking treats without actually having to have them in the house.  I found these lemon graham squares on Debbie's blog at the Friday Friends and instantly fell in love.  How can you not love a tart lemon filling between two layers of cookie crumbs?  I made them once for our church group, and then a new batch the very next day to hoard at home.  Yeah, so much for getting them out of the house!

Lemon Graham Squares
Found at The Friday Friends

Ingredients

1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (exactly one plastic packed stack of graham crackers)
3/4  cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash salt
1/2 cup melted butter

Directions

In a bowl, combine the milk and lemon juice, mix well, set aside. In another bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in butter until crumbly.

Press half of the crumb mixture into a greased 9-inch square baking dish.  Pour lemon mixture over crust; sprinkle with remaining crumbs.   Bake at  375F for  20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Cut into bars.

Shared with Taste and Tell Thursdays