Perfect Lemon Bars



As I was making my daily (sometimes twice a day) stroll through the local grocery store, the lemons seemed to jump out at me. They were gorgeous!

Bright, vibrant color (way more appetizing then they have been the past few months) and HUGE! They nearly stopped me in my tracks. The first thing I envisioned was tangy lemon bars. I haven't had a lemon bar in a long time. Quite honestly, I can't remember the last time I had one, sad I know.


Before our house burned in a California Wildfire, we had beautiful lemon trees. Homegrown fruits and veggies always seem to taste much better then any organic store bought. Luckily, we have a very small tree in our backyard that produces small lemons and was able to incorporate a few into my lemon bars!


I prefer my lemon bars to have a pretty similar shortbread to lemon topping ratio. I've tried many recipes, finding it was either too gooey, too tangy, too eggy, too thick, too bitter etc..

I just love these lemon bars and I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do!


Now...*drum roll* the Giveaway Winner is Zoe Packman! Congrats Zoe! I'll email you shortly with further info! :)

Don't fret if you didn't win....I have an awesome Sponsored Halloween Package full of lots of goodies in the next few days!


Lemon Bars
Recipe Adapted by Epicurean Mom


Ingredients


For Shortbread:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt

For Topping:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 large lemons, juiced
zest of 1 or 1/2 lemon (I used 1 whole lemon, since I love the tang)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x11 or 9x13 inch pan.

Sift the flour and confectioners' sugar in medium bowl. Add the salt and melted butter. Mix until well incorporated and, evenly press into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until just a light golden brown. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk eggs until light, pale and fluffy. Add the sugar and salt, stir well. Sift the all-purpose flour into the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Using a sieve, strain the lemon juice (adding some pulp if you desire) into the topping. Whisk in the lemon zest, until smooth. Pour mixture onto warm or cold shortbread.

Bake for 25-35 minutes. The topping should be set but slightly jiggly and a slight golden brown. Cool completely before cutting the bars into squares.

33 comments:

  1. Your photos are breathtaking as always! This recipe is delicious! We are supposed to have a beautiful weekend here in NY and these would be perfect to take on our picnic as we tour the fall foliage! Can't wait to try!

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  2. They look so delicious! I have seen lots of recipes for lemon bars, and been meaning to try them. Thanks for the reminder. :)

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  3. Lemon bars are a classic favorite of mine-any time of the year. Your pictures really look enticing-now I am craving these-Yum. Have a great weekend!

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  4. Just gorgeous! I have never made these but will definitely try this recipe :) Thanks for the post. Sorry to hear about your house :(

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  5. Finding the perfect lemon bar with the right balance of crust, curd and tang is no easy feat! Yours look delicious.

    I'll be attending the photoworkshop with White on Rice next week and thought I would stop by say hello. Looking forward to meeting everyone in person.

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  6. I love lemon bars!! I don't make them nearly enough but next time I do I will be trying your recipe! Looks gorgeous.

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  7. mmmmmmmm, lemon bars are one of those things that I could eat straight from the baking dish.

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  8. i just love lemon bars... i don't want to make them myself because i know i will end up eating the whole batch :)

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  9. Your blog is beautiful! I remember the first thing I ever learned to bake from scratch was a batch of lemon bars with my mom. She never baked all that much, and lemon bars were one of her few recipes. They are still my favorite!

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  10. Gorgeous bars! I have never baked a lemon dessert before. I have been looking around for a great lemon bar recipe to try though! Saving this one for sure!

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  11. Gorgeous bars! I have never baked a lemon dessert before. I have been looking around for a great lemon bar recipe to try though! Saving this one for sure!

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  12. Gorgeous bars! I have never baked a lemon dessert before. I have been looking around for a great lemon bar recipe to try though! Saving this one for sure!

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  13. These are so beautiful! I love me some lemon bars and it's been quite a while since I have had one.

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  14. Your lemon bars look SO good and your photos are absolutely stunning!!!!!! I love the tang you get from lemon. You have me craving lemon bars now!

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  15. Amazing photos (as usual!) Those lemon bars look pretty delicious and lip-puckerable :) Congrats to Zoe! Buzzed

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  16. These look beautiful and I'm pretty sure I have everything on hand except some fresh lemons! Gorgeous pictures as always :)

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  17. Lemon bars make any day feel like summer. I think I may need these soon!

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  18. Just put these in the oven!! So so so excited!!

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  19. Boy oh boy do I ever love lemon so I was delighted to find this recipe! These lemon bars are just very very good, plain and simple! I made them just a few days ago, and well, they are all gone! :)

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  20. Thanks so much everyone!

    Alexandria- I'm SO glad you liked them!! They were a big hit here too! xoxo

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  21. I just made these lemon bars.. and OH MY GOODNESS!! They are soo delicious. Seriously good recipe. Thanks so much for sharing it.

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  22. Unfortunately I found them too sweet. A lot. I'd take half the sugar.

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  23. Oh no! Sorry you found them too sweet! Unfortunately everyone tastes differently. Hopefully next time you try it, cut the sugar down. See If that helps :)

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  24. Just found these. Totally making them.

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  25. After baking them I found that a top brown layer formed on top. After slicing what I ended up with was a thin 2-3mm sponge layer with lemon custard/curd middle and soft shortbread crust. Was that supposed to happen? Maybe I should have given it a good whisk just before pouring it in. Either way, it turned out to be a nice surprise and interesting finish.

    My family thoroughly enjoyed it, though initially it was a bit tart just out of the oven. The flavours settle much more nicely after cooling, and dusting it with icing sugar gives it the perfect finish. I believe it would be more accurate to put how much lemon juice in ml is required rather than indicating 3 large lemons. 3 large lemons for me produced 150ml lemon juice.

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  26. I made these last night for a potluck dinner I'm attending tonight. I used the zest of 3 small lemons since the tangier, the better in my book ;-) It's been hard not to try a slice, but I'm sure the wait will be well worth it!

    I also noticed like the poster above me commented, a sponge-y layer formed on top of the curd. I'm sure it won't affect the overall taste, but I've made lemon bars in the past and they turned out looking a lot differently.

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  27. My boyfriend and I made these and they turned out fantastic! Out of curiosity, do you think squeezing fresh oranges into the mix instead of lemons would turn out alright?

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  28. What a wonderful recipe! I found it on Pinterest, and it was one of the only ones I found that used actual lemons. The rest called for lemon flavoring. Yuck. I'm glad you stick with the authentic stuff. They turned out great! :)

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  29. I made these tonight and they were fantastic remember to add powdered sugar at the end and enjoy!

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  30. These look delicious! Hope you don't mind I shared them on my blog this morning.

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  31. Thank you for this recipe, Katie. I love lemons but other bars were usually too thick & stiff, whew. Making your recipe I fell in love already whilst whisking the topping, such a wonderful smell around the kitchen! Alright, maybe the reason was I've added lime zest leftovers I had.... And used less sugar for it, love it tangy but not making my teeth hurt of sweetness. Going to make bars again today, my mother is a sweet-stuff-hater buuuut guess what?! Loved these so much she wasn't able to keep herself from eating more and more. Greeting from Czech Republic! Have a lovely day xoxo

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  32. Do you know if blueberries can be incorporated into this great recipe? =0)

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