lmnBars

There is nothing tastier than a fresh, juicy lemon bar on a hot day. Or a cold day. Or an in-between-make-up-your-mind-please spring day. Or night. Or afternoon. You get the picture.

So, we made you lemon bars! This recipe uses a whole lemon (the rind and everything), so it ups the zestiness so much more than would using lemon juice and zest only. Wow are they lemony. My favorite part about making these is making the lemon mixture. We did it in a blender, and when it was all ground up it was like a lemon-flavored, sugar-loaded smoothie (SO good!). And it really doesn’t take long at all!

The one thing to watch for with these babies: curdling. Since the recipe uses the entire lemon–the pith, the peel, the fruit, and the juice–there can be sediment in the batter that will rise up when baking and form a white, bumpy layer. It tastes totally normal, but looks rather ugly. The first time we made these, this was a huge problem, but we adjusted the blending time (and used a blender instead of a food processor, which has larger blades and doesn’t cut things up as finely) and added in more juice which seemed to fix the issue.

Crust

1 cup (140g) flour
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (115g) melted unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Topping

1 lemon, organic or unsprayed
1 cup (200g) sugar
3 tablespoons (45ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 large eggs, room temperature
4 teaspoons corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons (45g) melted unsalted butter

Optional: powdered sugar, for serving
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).

2. Overturn an 8-inch square pan on the counter and wrap the outside snugly with foil, shiny side up. Remove the foil, turn the pan over, and fit the foil into the pan, pressing to nudge the foil into the corners. The smooth it as best you can.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, 1/4 cup (50g) sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 8 tablespoons (115g) melted butter, and vanilla, stirring just until smooth.

4. Smooth the batter into the bottom of the pan, using your hands or a small offset spatula to get it as level as possible.

5. Bake the crust for 25 minutes, or until it’s deep-golden brown.

6. While the crust is cooking, cut the lemon in half, remove the seeds, and cut the lemon into chunks.

7. Put the chunks of lemon in a food processor or blender along with the sugar and lemon juice, and let it run until the lemon is completely broken up. Add the eggs, corn starch, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tablespoons (45g) melted butter, and blend until almost smooth. (A few tiny bits of lemon pieces are normal and encouraged.)

8. When the crust comes out of the oven, reduce the heat of the oven to 300ºF (150ºC). Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling stops jiggling and is barely set.

9. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once cool, carefully lift out the bars grasping the foil. Cut the bars into squares or rectangles. Sift powdered sugar over the top just before serving, if desired.

Photo/Recipe Credit: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/02/whole-lemon-bars-recipe/ (and his other recipes are FANTASTIC as well)

27 Apr This entry was published on April 27, 2012 at 6:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.