17. Lemon Bars

After completing an ultimately failed dessert (which you can read about on this blog around the 27^th of the month) I wanted to still fulfill my sweet tooth and build back up my baking confidence a little bit.  I wanted a dessert that was easy and met one of my top 100 dishes.  I choose this lemon bar recipe out of my to-try pile.

The bars’ crust was crumbly but with good buttery flavor.  The filling was sweet and tart and not eggy tasting at all, which is my usual complaint with lemon bars.  Lastly, the easy glaze was a nice sweet and tart ending to a delightful dessert.   I thought the bar was good and I would recommend cutting them small because you can only take so much due to their richness; my mother thought they were a little too sweet however… But you know how that story goes ;-)

(On a side note: what a pathetic first entry for 2011... I promise to do better as the year goes along :-)

Lemon Bars

Adapted from Nosh With Me

Crust Ingredients

1 cups flour

1/4  cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

Crust Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Press into the bottom of a 8x8 square pan.

3. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until crust is light golden brown.

4. While crust is baking, prepare filling.

Filling Ingredients

1 whole eggs and 2 yolks, slightly beaten (or you can use 2 whole eggs)

1 cups sugar

1/8 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Heaping 1/8 cup lemon juice with squirt of lime juice

Filling Preparation

1. Mix together eggs, sugar, flour, and baking powder thoroughly.

2. You can just stir it all together with a whisk.

3.  Add lemon juice and beat well.

4. Pour over warm crust and return to oven.

5. Bake 20-30 minutes. (Don’t let it get too brown.) Cool completely.

Glaze Ingredients

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

Glaze Preparation

1. Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice to make a relatively thin glaze. Drizzle (or spread) over the bars.

2. Allow glaze to dry, then cut into small squares.

Yields 16 small squares.