Ever since last Christmas, I’ve become obsessed with lemon bars. My roommate had made them for a family gathering and I had the opportunity to try some. I’ve never really liked lemon bars until I had these. They were tart, not too sweet, and absolutely delicious. She had followed this recipe (minus the walnuts). I followed the same recipe to make my own batch with high expectations, but to my disappointment they didn’t turn out the same–The crust was thicker, the filling was thicker and more gooey, and the lemon flavor wasn’t as tart. Apparently, my roommate had tweaked the recipe but had forgotten what was tweaked exactly. So for the next several weeks we experimented by adjusting the servings of the recipe and then increasing the amount of lemon juice, adding lemon zest, and added more flour for the filling. Between the two of us, we probably made about 7 batches until we figured it out. Thanks to the help of my roommate, here is the final tweaked recipe!
Ingredients:
Crust portion
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3/8 cup powdered sugar (3/8 = 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons)
- 1 1/2 cups flour
Filling portion
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup lemon juice (about 5-6 small lemons)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (about 3-4 small lemons)
- 1/4 cup flour (sifted)
Directions:
Part 1: Crust portion
Preheat the oven to 325F
Melt the butter a little in the microwave for 15 secs. Then add in the powdered sugar and flour.
Mix with a hand mixer on low speed until you see clumps form. Mix for about 2 mins longer, or until thoroughly incorporated. Then take the clumps and pack them together with your hands.
Place the crust dough in a 9×13 pan. Spread the dough out evenly with your hands, packing it down in the process.
Bake for 18 mins, or until edges are very light brown.
Part II: Filling portion
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Squeeze the lemons to make the 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Zest the lemons to loosely measure 1 tablespoon.
Place the egg and sugar in a large bowl and mix with a whisk.
Strain the lemon juice to get rid of any seeds and pulp. (I like it more tart, so I add the pulp back in). Add in the lemon zest and mix.
At this time, your crust should be just about done. Take it out of the oven and let it cool for about 5-7 mins.
While the crust is cooling, sift and add the flour in small amount while stirring into the filling mixture. Make sure there are no clumps of flour floating in the mixture.
After the crust has cooled for a little bit, add the filling onto the crust. Pop any air bubbles on the surface. Bake for 23 mins.
The edges should be brown when you pull it out of the oven.
Let it cool for about 1 hour before cutting into it.
A closeup of the filling and crust.
Cut them into squares, and Enjoy these delicious bars!!
piglicious 