Lemon Bars

I don't know about you, but I love lemon bars. However, they always seemed so difficult to make. These ones were actually easy. The only thing I found difficult was making sure the filling was done and set because none of the recipes I looked at really described when that or the crust was done. I just did it off time and kinda jiggling it to see if it was set or not. I like the look of the lemon zest in the first picture, tho you don't see it anymore after you douse it with powdered sugar. Yay, sugar!

I gotta admit, there's a LOT of butter that goes into that crust, I'm going to see if I can't find another recipe with less in it. This is definitely NOT a diet/low cal/low fat recipe.

Overall, it turned out great. I think I prefer my lemon bars a little more on the zesty side and not as sweet as this recipe does turn out pretty sweet. Also, I melted the butter prior to mixing it into the crust and it was too melted so the crust was a little too crumbly. Gotta watch that next time--I knew it was going to happen too! I also mixed the crust by hand, which I think is much better than by mixer. I could really feel the texture and it was nice to just get my hands in there and work the dough. I'm not usually a get my hands dirty kind of person, but it was a nice change.



Boo, I forgot to take a picture of the just baked crust, so you'll have to forgive me for that, but here everything is after I just took it out of the oven before I put on the powdered sugar. I waited a bit before I dusted it. Can you see the browned edges on the sides of the baking pan? This is what happens when you're not careful moving the whole thing to the oven. Because the filling mixture is so watery, it moved around a lot and that's what happened. Good thing I planned on cutting it up and serving it in another pan.


So you'll notice that mostly the lemon bars are covered pretty well and pretty evenly, however there are some interesting places (note the upper right hand corner) where its more like bouldered sugar instead of powdered sugar...lol. Well, let's just say I had a little mishap. So instead of using a sifter or whatever, I used a tea leaf holder. It looks sorta like this:



Filled that with powdered sugar and that took care of most of my lumps. However, a few times I bumped it too hard or whatever and the darn thing opened up and out came a boulder. Regardless, I thought it was a pretty cool idea, just takes a little bit more time cuz the darn thing is so small. Anyway...the finished product turned out wonderfully!


Yummy!!

4.5 stars out of 5!! Delicious and delicate. Wonderful! If you asked my dad, he would have given them like a 6/5. Made me happy!

Extra tip: try using key limes to make key lime bars! What a fun twist.
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Below from here.

• FOR THE CRUST:
• 2 cups Flour, Sifted
• ½ cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 cup Butter, Softened
• _____
• FOR THE FILLING:
• 4 whole Eggs Beaten
• 2 cups White Sugar
• ½ cups Lemon Juice
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest, Grated
• ¼ cups Flour
• ½ teaspoons Baking Powder

Preparation Instructions

For the crust, mix the softened butter into the flour and powdered sugar with your hands (or a pastry blender) until it clings together. Press the mixture into a 13×9″ greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes or until lightly golden. For the filling, beat the eggs with a hand mixer for about 5 minutes until frothy. Add the sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. In another bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Stir into the egg mixture. Pour over the baked, warm crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Done!