Lemon Bars
I’m going on 5 years here in northern California, and I’m gettin’ pretty used to the California lifestyle. I love how every town has a weekly farmer’s market. If you miss market day, there’s always a roadside stand that sells local fruit, vegetables, honey, olives and nuts daily. I love that when the rest of the country was covered in snow and ice a few weeks ago, we were sittin’ pretty at a sunny 65° (we still are, by the way—don’t be jealous). But my favorite thing about California? CITRUS! This is the time of year when the citrus trees are bursting with fruit. Everyone is sharing bags of oranges, clementines, lemons, Meyer lemons, grapefruit and pomelos from their backyards. I felt like the luckiest Texan alive last week when I received a bag of home-grown Meyer lemons! I got to baking as fast as I could. Here’s my first creation. If you can’t find Meyer lemons, regular lemons are just fine.
- FOR THE SHORTBREAD CRUST:
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ¾ cup flour
- pinch of salt
- FOR THE LEMON CURD:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon packed lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 large egg
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon flour
- powdered sugar for sprinkling
- Preheat the oven to 350°. The best pan for these bars is a glass bread loaf pan measuring 9” x 5” x 3”. If you only have a metal loaf pan, line the pan very well with parchment paper. You do not want the acidic lemon curd to touch the sides of the metal pan.
- First, make the shortbread crust: In a medium bowl, add all crust ingredients. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour, sugar and salt. You should have a coarse meal. Press this mixture into the bottom of the loaf pan firmly. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the edges are slightly browned and the top is not wet to the touch.
- Once you remove the pan from the oven, you may then start making your filling. (Do not make the filling ahead of time and let it sit—eggs and lemon juice aren’t the best of friends at times). In a small bowl, beat together the granulated sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and egg. Beat this mixture very well until it becomes frothy–about 1 minute.
- Beat in the baking powder and flour until no lumps remain. Pour this mixture over the crust that has been cooling. Return the pan to the oven for another 20-23 minutes, or until the filling is set. Immediately remove the bars from the loaf pan and allow to cool before dusting with powdered sugar and cutting into bars.
You just made me REALLY want to live in California (although i already kind of did)!
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Christina Reply:
February 17th, 2011 at 5:37 am
You should come visit!
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I love lemons! It makes me want to move out west! Or down to Florida
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I can’t help it, I am so jealous! Your lemon bars look just lovely! I have been considering trying to grow a Meyer Lemon tree in a pot, so I could bring it in over the winter. Probably a lost cause in Wyoming!
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I am so jealous! I’ve never had a Meyer Lemon, and I want to try them SO bad. Even when we were in Texas last week, there was snow. It sucked! At least there was barbecue and mexican food to console me
The lemon bars look so so good. I want to make them!
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Lemon bars have been my favorite dessert since I was a little girl and oddly enough, I have never taken the time to try and find a favorite recipe for them. They are just such a must living in the south
Thanks for sharing.
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Your lemon bars look lovely! They look just like my grandmother’s , but I bet the meyer lemons bring them to a whole new level. Yum!
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wow, love your lemon bars, look so good.
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They look absolutely delicious! i love lemon bars:) my grandma used to me them all the time! your recipe sounds so good. thank you for sharing this, and have a great weekend.
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Mmmmm…I love lemon bars! These look amazing!
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I have never had good luck at Lemon Bars… many times they taste wonderful but don’t look so pretty. Yours look like they fit both bills!
I’m from just north of San Francisco, in San Rafael (currently in San Diego, though) and I always loved the fruit stands and markets!! Later, living in Vacaville I worked in Woodland and would drive through fields and fields of corn and sunflowers. I always kick myself for not stopping and taking pictures of those towering flowers.
Enjoy the citrus!!
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Suuuuure Christina just rub it in a little more! So so jealous that you live in a sunny place AND get to eat delicious citrus. I get so excited when signs of life start happening like flowers blooming so I’d be excited for fruit too. I wish there were more farmers markets around here! I love the sweet/tangyness of lemon bars, I’ll have to try yours out!
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You can never go wrong with lemon bars! They’re one of my favorite things to make in the spring…which I wish would hurry up and get here!
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I changed this recipe so much I can’t speak to how it would turn out if I had made it as written (although I’m sure it would be wonderful), but I loved my changes so much I had to write in. I really love the combo of lemon and chocolate so I added 3 tbl. of cocoa powder to the shortbread crust, used demura sugar in place of white (I was out) in the filling, and baked 3 sliced strawberries with the filling. These are heavenly! The lemon filling was perfectly tart and sweet, and the recipe has a great ratio between the filling and crust. My normal lemon bar recipe uses less butter in the crust so I didn’t realize how much better the bars would be if I upped the butter. I served them with a hearty topping of fresh whipped cream and they were gone in no time. Thank you for the recipe (and you’re amazing blog)!
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Christina Reply:
May 11th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Wow, Em! Your changes sound absolutely delicious! Thank you SO much for taking the time to write them in so we can all make your version too! You’re a domestic goddess!
xo,
Christina
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I made these today. Goodness they were good! I cut them into 8 squares so, I think they could easily be enough for 4 people. I’m loving your blog and scaled down recipes. Thank you SO much!
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[...] up smaller portioned desserts perfect for two, she has created a sweet niche for herself. From lemon bars to Texas peach cobbler and everything in between, she has quite the skill to scale down beloved [...]