One of my dearest friends is having a bridal shower on Saturday (hopefully she’s not reading this post before then!). I am among a few girls who are in the bridal party, and coordinating the shower. I’m excited and a little nervous, I hope it goes well! And most of all, I hope the bride has a wonderful time. Just the other day I was creating some flowers out of colored pipe cleaners and cut-out paper hearts for one of the games – guests will be writing marriage advice tidbits on each of the heart-flowers, and either I’ll put it in a vase for her as a keepsake, or wrap all the flowers together with a ribbon as a bouquet… haven’t decided yet. And perhaps the bride can share with the rest of us some of those marriage advice tidbits by reading a heart-flower in between opening shower gifts…

(Nevermind the messy room in the background, I’ve got a sewing project in the works right now)

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I’m also test-trying out some new things for the shower. I’ve never been a big fan of lemon bars, but this shower theme will be an afternoon tea, and I figured it would be a nice addition to the menu. However, I’ve never been a huge fan of lemon bars. The ones I’ve ever eaten were always way too tart for me. If I have to wrinkle my face as I eat the bar, I’m not liking it. I don’t like my food to “bite” back at me.

Then came along a high school friend (hi Karen!) who promised a really good lemon bar recipe… from her older sister. I figured I’d test it out ahead of time, and if it turned out to be a yummy success, I’d make it for the shower. Turns out, my friend was 110% correct. I LOVE these lemon bars! Sweet, but not too sweet, and not too tart at all. Perfect, just the way I like them!

It was really simple to make. Ingredients below:

Making the crust first (after spreading it evenly -shown below- I baked it briefly, before pouring and baking the lemon mixture on top):

All done, with a little dusting of powdered sugar on top:

My very own yummy piece:

This one is a keeper. And it’s definately making an appearance at the shower.

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*Edited to add: Recipe can be found here, with the following changes:
Crust ingredients – use 1/2 cup powdered sugar instead of 1 cup confectioner’s sugar; take out the pinch of salt
Filling ingredients – use 1/3 cup flour instead of 6 Tbsp; add 1 tsp of lemon peel/zest; add 1 tsp baking powder.