Ready, Set, Weekend with Simply Beautiful Eating
I just want to say something before we start here today. I love lemons. Lemon anything is fine by me. In fact, I use lemons in so many things it’s probably not normal. Then again, I’m not trying to convince you that I am NORMAL cuz we all know I’m NOT. Anyhoo, I start my day (and my mom taught me this one and still does it) with a hot cup of water and lemon.
Why? According to her, it’s supposed to be “GOOD FOR YOU”. Seeing as she is almost 97, I guess she knows what she’s talking about.
So what else do I throw lemon into? Salad dressings, sauces, chicken, fish, desserts and just about anything that I can squeeze that little yellow pucker sucker into or onto.
When I made this recipe for lemon squares, I wanted them to have two main components:
A buttery shortbread crust and,
A lovely yellow filling
So good. And I mean SOOOOOO GOOD that you will never want to buy those grocery store pseudo lemon bars again. Absolutely “bar none” the best bars for “lemon lovers”. Speaking of love….I had to add a sultry and darkish lemon bar picture below….nice, right?
With this recipe, I set out to create a bar that was not too sweet and too tart. I don’t even know if that makes sense because look at the ingredients – Sugar, Butter, Lemon. But, I wanted to at least take a stab at it.
What happened here was a simply beautiful light yellow bar coated with a fairy dusting of powdered sugar. These bars are the perfect combination of sweet, tart, and man oh man are they ever delish.
Oh, one more thing. These are a perfect treat to make ahead of time. I knew you would like that.
Hang on a sec. If you’re going to bake these ahead of time, make sure to sprinkle with a little powdered sugar on top right before serving. Otherwise, that dusting will just disappear once it sits on the bars for a few hours and that would just be dumb. Pucker up baby and enjoy!
ZESTY LEMON SQUARES WITH SHORTBREAD CRUST
Shortbread Crust
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups of butter (3 sticks) melted
Lemon Filling
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
zest from 2 lemons
Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix flour and powdered sugar together, then pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients.
Mix together gently, until just crumbly. Lightly spray a 9 x 13″ casserole pan or line with parchment paper with enough to hang over the edges to allow squares to lift out when baked.
Press the crumbs firmly into the pan in an even layer.
Bake crust for 15 minutes.
Start making the lemon filling by whisking the eggs until they are light and pale yellow. Add the sugar and flour to the egg mixture and stir to combine well. Add in the freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest.
Remove the crust from the oven and immediately pour the lemon filling mixture over the hot crust. Return to oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until set and it doesn’t jiggle in the centre.
Let cool completely, refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing into small squares. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.