Classic Lemon Bars

Some of my friends (yes, I have friends) invited me over for dinner this evening to have Tuscan chicken, which has a strong lemon flavor. When I asked if they had plans for dessert, and received a no, I knew lemon bars were in order.

I’ve made plenty of lemon bars before, but never from scratch, always from a boxed mix, as referenced here. My dessert cook book, The Cookie and Biscuit Bible, has several lemon bar recipes and I chose the classic version.

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
¾ cup butter, diced

Lemon layer:
4 eggs
2 ¼ cups caster sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
powdered sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350*F. Sift the flour, powdered sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. 

Stir in, 1 teaspoon at a time, of water until the mixture forms a ball. Press the mixture evenly into an ungreased 9x13 inch baking dish. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, to make the lemon layer, beat together the eggs, caster sugar, flour, baking powder, lemon rind and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth and combined.

Pour the lemon mixture over the cooked crust and return to the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Before serving, sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and cut into squares.

Lemon bars are awesome. They are fresh (even from a box) and tart and yummy. They have a cookie like crust and a squishy lemon layer. What? Yes, I’m making squishy into a positive culinary description.

They are just amazing. In fact, they fall under the ever growing label of a ‘favorite.’ Ignore the fact that I have many favorites. They are all.

Now, go make these and make some friends of your own. They will love you.