Bribery and corruption

Nancy Drew – Get a clue (2007)

Lemon bars

I am not averse to using food for a variety of different purposes. In my dim and distant youth I made bean and pea collages at school and proudly carried them home whilst wearing my highly prized painted macaroni bracelet and necklace combo. I’ve used food to seduce and food to appease but Nancy Drew hits the jackpot. She uses food to bribe. I’ve done that too, I will admit to waving a bag of chocolate buttons at my grizzling child in a supermarket hoping to gain a moment’s peace and quiet. Nancy is much craftier than me; she discretely opens her silver cake tin to reveal beautifully baked lemon bars and blondies. These sit beckoning the intended victim to take the bait. The merest whiff of the squidgy lemon topping and government agents tell her all she needs to know. Barely have they had time to wipe the crumbs from the corners of their mouths than Nancy is off. Sleuthing and baking, my kind of girl.

Mise en scene

Base

150g self raising flour

80g icing sugar

110g butter very cold

1tsp ground ginger

Topping

2 large eggs

200g caster sugar

2 tbsp self raising flour

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon

Pinch of salt

It's all in the edit.

1. Pre heat the oven to 180C.
2. Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking parchment.
3. To make the base sieve the flour into a roomy bowl, do the same with the icing sugar and ground ginger.
4. Cut in the butter and rub in until the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the baking tin. Don’t worry about being too tidy as the amount of butter in the mixture will allow the base to spread and level in the pan.
5. Bake in the oven for between 15 and 20 minutes until golden and firm.
6. You can either allow the base to cool or pour the following mixture straight over the hot base it doesn’t really matter.
7. The topping is made by whisking together the sugar, eggs, flour and salt. Grate the lemon rind over the mixture as this captures the lemon oils released as well as the rind. Whisk in the lemon juice and pour straight onto the base.
8. Bake until the filling is just set. It will take up to 20 minutes. Think lemon meringue pie or lemon curd as this will give you an idea of the set you are looking for.
9. Allow to cool, dust with icing sugar, cut into bars. A decent cup of tea and a mystery to solve is the only accompaniment these bars need.