Lemon Creme Crumb Bars

Photo by Katie Kay

These are nothing like store-bought Lemon Bars.  These have a deliciously sweet, oaty crust, creamy middle, and crumbly topping.  I've made this several times with huge success, and they are so easy and fast to throw together.  Most of these ingredients are pantry staples for me, so as long as I have fresh lemons, this is an easy last-minute dessert to bring with me anywhere!
Kaylen and Jenson have been itching to cook in the kitchen again, and Kaylen begged me to make more cupcakes.  I'm kind of cupcaked-out right now (my friend's mom says cupcakes are "over," lol), and Jenson doesn't have as much fun with cupcakes because he hasn't quite grasped the decorating part of them yet.  At least, not MY idea of proper decorating.  If I allowed him to pour handfuls of sprinkles on like liquid concrete, he'd be totally on board and happy as a clam.
Some day I might let him, but after I let six 8-year-olds decorate their own cupcakes in my kitchen for Kaylen's birthday party this summer, I'm rethinking the whole "sprinkle" thing in my kitchen.  In fact, I'm thinking of rethinking sprinkles in my house at all.  Nothing short of burning the house down is going to stop me from still finding those little balls stuck to the bottoms of my feet.
So...sprinkles and cupcakes are out.  Lemon Creme Crumb Bars are IN!  
How convenient is this?  The crust and the crumb topping are one and the same!  This is a quick 2-step recipe, and I love it.  The kids poured everything in themselves:

Photo by Katie Kay

After dividing the oat mixture in half, they pressed half of it in the bottom of their pan.  They did it perfectly!  It was even with no white spots showing:

Photo by Katie Kay

Kaylen had very steady zesting hands.  She had good coverage on her lemon:

Photo by Katie Kay

Jenson zested the 2nd lemon and was very receptive to my coaching.  I loved how he would zest a tiny spot, look at the lemon, rotate it, and zest a new little tiny spot.  It took him a long time. :)

Photo by KatieKay

Check out the intense concentration!

Photo by Katie Kay

They juiced their own lemons.  Our lemons were small and a little dry, so it took 4 to make enough juice for this recipe.

Photo by Katie Kay

After whisking the filling, we poured it in the crust.  This seems like the right time to mention a little mistake I made.  In my defense, orchestrating my kids cooking in the kitchen as I take pictures takes up a large part of my working brain.  I might have forgotten to tell the kids to just add the yolks of the eggs to the filling, so they each cracked their own eggs and added the entire egg.

Because of that mistake, I cooked the bars for about 5 extra minutes, and the filling in the middle was almost more of a wet cheesecake texture.  Which sounds gross...wet cheesecake?  It was actually still delicious, but next time I would go ahead and omit the whites.  I've made these correctly before, and they're much creamier that way. :)

Photo by Katie Kay

I'd love to say that this was all Brady Bunchy where the kids were perfect and said "yes ma'am" and didn't argue or sneak licks of batter when I wasn't looking.  I can't.  There was some fighting, and most of it was over who got to pour what and who got to stir first.  Here, you're witnessing a compromise:

Photo by Katie Kay

They take cooking very seriously.  Probably because they know I'll beat them within an inch of their lives if they make a mistake.  HA.  I'm kidding. Seriously.  Can you make jokes like that on the internet without getting arrested?

Photo by Katie Kay

PERFECT topping coverage, sprinkled with love!

Photo by Katie Kay

And into the oven it went.  It was ready just in time for them to want a piece an hour before dinner.  Poor planning on my part.  Still, I let them have one piece when it was cooled.  Jenson's reactions amused me.  He was the only one who didn't like them, but honestly with that picky boy I'm not surprised.  He was at his happiest in this one.  Look at that anticipation!

Photo by Katie Kay

Then they took their first bite.  Yes, Matt was exaggerating his facial expressions.  When your kids bake something, you go over the top with your enthusiasm!  Jenson is already chewing it like it's a piece of lettuce.

Photo by Katie Kay

And the verdict is in.  He hates it.

Photo by Katie Kay

Lemon Creme Crumb Bars
Crust/topping: 1 1/4 cup flour 1 1/4 cup oats 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 3/4 cup melted butter 1 tsp vanilla
Lemon creme filling: 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk zest of 2 lemons 1/3 cup lemon juice 2 egg yolks (not the entire egg...) 1/2 tsp lemon extract
Preheat oven to 350.  Combine 1st 6 ingredients of crust in a bowl and whisk until all lumps are gone.  Add vanilla to melted butter, then add to bowl and stir with a spoon.  Divide in half, and press half into the bottom of an 8x8 pan.  Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and leave oven on.
While crust is cooking, combine 4 ingredients of the cream filling in a bowl and whisk to combine.  Pour onto cooked crust and smooth with a spatula.
With fingers, sprinkle crumb topping evenly over the top of the filling, leaving no holes.  Return to oven for 20 minutes.
Source:  CookingClassy.com