Prăjituri cu cremă de lămâie (Lemon cream cake squares) (Romanian)

A crispy biscuit-like base, a creamy lemony layer on top, and plenty of powdered sugar dust on top. A classic cake bar recipe made in many Romanian homes in the past 40-50 years. I remember my mom and my aunts and my schoolmates' moms making these squares when I was a kid and they were always in my top favorites. :)
Recipe source: this written link + my mom.

Last year: Roasted lamb back-straps in red wine sauce.
Two years ago: Sincronizadas with cheddar, turkey ham and guacamole (Mexican).
Three years ago: Ricotta and black olives crostini (Italian), Carrot, ginger and caramel marmalade, Quick fried banana breakfast (Kewra-flavored) and Simple black and white loaf cake (cozonacel).



Ingredients (for a 20 X 30 cm baking tray):

For the base:

• 250 g flour
• 85 g powder sugar, plus extra to dust the top
• 175 g cold butter, cubed

For the cream:

• 2 lemons
• 1 large orange
• 4 eggs
• 400 g sugar
• 50 g flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Mix the flour with the powdered sugar and rub the cold butter cubes into it until you have a dry-ish, crumb-like dough. Press it into the bottom of the baking dish. You can use the back of a spoon to level it.

Put it into the oven and bake it for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the cream. Grate the zest and squeeze the juice from the lemons and orange. Measure the juice, it has to be 120 ml. Put the juice in a bowl and add the beaten eggs. Add the sugar and mix well. Also add the flour and the grated zest:

Mix well and the cream is ready. When the biscuit base is done, remove the baking dish from the oven and pour the cream on top. Return it to the oven and bake it again for 15-20 minutes or until the cream looks completely set (try shaking the dish gently to make sure).

Dust it generously with powdered sugar:

Allow it to cool, then cut into squares:

Transfer to serving plates or a cake stand and it's done. Dig in! :)

Note: It keeps well in the fridge for 3-4 days, covered. It's even better the next day after making it. During summertime it's a super-refreshing treat to have it cold from the fridge :)