Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares

Nothing too fancy, a little crumbly when you cut them, and ridiculously simple ingredient list.

But boy, do these taste fantastic!

The Pioneer Woman has done it again.

Usually I go for the chocolate desserts first, but these little delights are something special. You really have to taste them to believe it.

The recipe as written below makes an 11 x 8" pan. I actually increased it by 1/4 (and made it in a 13 x 9" pan) because I had some extra sweetened condensed milk left over from another recipe and wanted to use it up. I was glad to have a slightly larger pan of these, let me tell you. But since most of the time, you won't just have an extra 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk lying around, I'm just writing up the original recipe.

Recipe:

1-⅓ cup all-purpose flour

½ t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, slightly softened
1 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
1 cup oats
1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk
½ cup lemon juice (I squeezed fresh from 3 lemons)
zest of 1 lemon (zest a lemon before you cut it!)

Preheat oven to 350°.
Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined.
Add oats and flour to butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine.
Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 11 inch pan.
Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture. Top with the other half of the crumb mixture, but don’t press.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Allow pan to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Cut into squares and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until cool.
Serve cool.