These are a great spring and summer treat! A few summers ago I went through a lemon phase and was making lemon based desserts left and right – ice cream, cake, madeleines, and more. I went through a few recipes, trying to find the right blend of flavors and settled on this recipe. It’s relatively simple and besides lemons, all the ingredients are pantry staples. Smooth and tangy lemon custard sits on top of a crisp, buttery crust.
TIPS: Before you start making the crust, make sure you have all the filling ingredients ready as the filling needs to be poured onto the crust when it comes out of the oven. If making for an evening treat, make them the day before or morning of, as the bars will cut more smoothly if they are allowed to cool completely.
Lemon Bars
1 – 13×9 pan, 24 bars
Crust Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
Filling Ingredients
1 ¾ cups sugar
¼ cup flour
4 eggs
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, approximately 2 large lemons or 3 medium lemons
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 F. Line a 13×9 inch baking pan with nonstick foil.
- In a medium bowl, use a pastry blender to incorporate the butter, powdered sugar and salt until well combined.
- Stir in flour until well blended.
- Scrape into the prepared baking pan and press evenly into the bottom.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crust is light golden brown.
- While the crust is baking, prepare the filling.
- In a medium bowl, beat sugar, flour, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice until smooth. Pour over the hot crust.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until no imprint remains in the filling when lightly touched.
- Remove from oven to a wire rack and cool completely – 45-60 minutes.
- Dust lightly with powdered sugar and cut into 24 bars.
