Vegan Lemon Squares Recipe

Before I met these vegan lemon squares, silken tofu had always stumped me.

Regular, firm tofu, I know what to do with — most often I pat it dry, cube it, and sauté it until golden brown and crisp, to be served over puréed, roasted, or stir-fried vegetables.

But silken tofu, with its strange, curd-like texture and the whey that pools at the bottom of the tub (is it part of the tofu? should I use it? not use it?), has always felt like a riddle. More times than I care to admit it, I’ve bought a package only to use half of it and throw out the rest, for lack of a timely, suitable recipe to use it in.

Enter the Vegan Lemon Squares!

This is why I was so pleased to clip out not just one, but two uncommonly appealing recipes using silken tofu from the September issue of Whole Living: one for Beets and Kale with Creamy Tofu Dressing, and one for Lemon Coconut Tofu Squares.

It is the loveliest of three-bite desserts: the crust crumbly just so, the lemon topping slightly chewy, and the perfect balance of sweet and tart.

The former I’m keeping under my elbow, as we French say, for when I finally lay my eager little hands on a bunch of Parisian kale*, which I plan to order from Bob’s Juice Bar as soon as I get my act together. But the latter I tried right away, and served it to friends — one of them my son’s godmother — who had come to lunch on a sunny Sunday.

It was wonderfully easy to put together: a crust made with coconut oil that you press into the pan and par-bake, and a lemon filling that is prepared by mixing silken tofu with sugar, lemon juice**, and a touch of flour.

Once cooled and cut into squares — I made sixteen where the recipe suggested twelve — it is the loveliest of three-bite desserts: the crust crumbly just so, the lemon topping slightly chewy, and the perfect balance of sweet and tart.

Vegan lemon squares become vegan “anything” squares

I feel doubly gratified because this is a two-in-one recipe: the crust is particularly good and could be used for all sorts of tarts and fruit squares. With the rest of the package of silken tofu I made a dairy-free yogurt cake (oxymoron, I know!), substituting tofu for the yogurt, and nobody noticed a thing.

What do you like to do with silken tofu? Any favorite idea or recipe to share?

* For the longest time, kale has been a most elusive vegetable in Paris, but thanks to the efforts of a few enthusiasts, it looks like it’s about to finally become more readily available.

** I actually used yuzu juice for this inaugural batch, because I had a bottle on hand brought back from Japan by my friend Chika-san.

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