Bake sale is not part of my school years memories. I started my North American education at the age of 12 and the academic focus put such frivolities behind in elementary school. However, fun in the name of learning was not entirely out of the question and it happened in the form of Multicultural Day. Canada’s official position on multiculturalism trickled down to school curriculum. In those days before hyper awareness of food allergies became part of our lives, the centrepiece of Multicultural Day was a homeroom potluck lunch with every student bringing a dish best representing his/her ethnic background. My school was situated in a culturally diverse neighbourhood in Toronto so the potluck lunch was an occasion I highly anticipated.
Back in those days, I was just getting started on baking in home economics class and my cooking skills were limited to cooking rice. I remember once Mom made the tremendous effort to sent me off to school with sweet and sour spareribs because she figured it would be appreciated by mainstream North American palates. The dish involved breading and deep frying bite-size spareribs before tossing them with pineapples and bell peppers in bright red sauce. Well, deep frying was just not done at our home because Mom hated the lingering greasy smell. As you can imagine, it was a huge deal that she went through all that trouble, just so that I would not be the kid with a plate of untouched food.
These days, an invitation to contribute a dish is still a huge deal to me. I was really excited when a friend invited me to her home for casual dinner last weekend. I knew that she would have a feast prepared for us (perks of being friends with the food-obsessed) so I wanted to make something low key. After all, it is not polite to upstage the hostess. A quick glance at her menu suggested that there were room for an extra dessert so that was what I made. On second thought, is there ever an occasion which an extra dessert is not appropriate?
Ever since I came back from Florida, I’ve been missing key lime pie something fierce. I know that most recipes are very standard with little variation on graham cracker crumb crust and a sweet filling made of condensed milk and lime juice. When I saw Cook’s Illustrated version of Key Lime Bars, I was hooked. The streamline dessert was developed to be cut into neat squares with help from cream cheese. I liked that idea very much since ease of serving is a big concern.
I was in a hurry when I made the Key Lime Bars so fussing with the crumb crust was not high on my priority list. Here is my trick to make the most perfectly level crumb crust in five seconds flat.
- If you own a Japanese yokan pan, you're in luck. The two-piece insert is key. Otherwise, if you have two pans of the same size, you can use that too. Evenly distribute the loose crumbs inside your parchment paper-lined pan.
- Fold over the parchment over hang to lightly cover the loose crumbs.
- Replace the insert or use a second pan of the same size. Put it over the parchment covered loose crumbs.
- Press down hard to pack the loose crumbs.
Hello perfection!
So exactly how much do I love this recipe? Enough to make it twice in two days, that’s how much. The taste was vibrant and creamy, a celebration of lazy meals on summer days. It was not a flashy dessert so it did not steal the spotlight from the marvellous meal my friend prepared. Best of all, it was one of the easiest dessert on my repertoire. Be sure to keep this in mind next time a potluck invitation pops up in the inbox!
