Lemon Bars

Lemon Bars

It’s meyer lemon season!

I originally tried u/JustHood’s lemon bar recipe after stumbling upon it on r/OldRecipes. While my family and I did enjoy the recipe, it was not what I wanted in a lemon bar. I wanted a thicker lemon bar—more lemon curd please!

This is the recipe that I’ve last enjoyed, it’s a brown butter shortbread crust with a tangy lemon filling.

This recipe could probably use a bit more tinkering, since I still tend to get the little bubbles up top which bother me. There isn’t really any rhyme or reason as to why they appear, but maybe I’ll try a bain-marie stovetop curd for the topping next?

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Ingredients

Brown butter shortbread crust

• 227g (1 cup) salted butter, melted and browned

• 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 265g (2 cups + 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour

Lemon topping

• 400g (2 cups) granulated sugar

• 47g (6 tbsp) all-purpose flour

• 6 large eggs

• 5 meyer lemons

• powdered sugar for dusting

Items

• saucepan for browning the butter

• 9”x13” glass baking tray

• parchment paper

Instructions

Preparing

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Line the baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
   I find that measuring to the ends where the “handles” of the pyrex tray is is usually accurate. I leave a bit of an overhang by folding the parchment paper at the corners of the tray. This helps with lifting the finished bars out, since I have found that baking it without the parchment paper makes it very difficult to cut then remove the bars.

Brown the butter

1. Place butter in the saucepan.

2. Turn on the heat to medium-high.

3. Swirl the pan. Place the pan back on the heat. And repeat over and over again
   After the butter completely melts, it starts to bubble and boil. Over time it starts to foam, and this is usually when the butter starts browning. Be careful not to let it burn or get burnt. Stop when the butter turns an amber color.

4. Transfer the browned butter into a heat-resistant mixing bowl.

Make the brown butter shortbread crust

1. When the melted butter has cooled, add all the other ingredients into the bowl.

2. Stir until everything is evenly combined.

3. Dump out the mixture into the lined baking tray.

4. Use fingers and press the mixture to form an even crust.

5. Blind bake for 18 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Make the lemon topping

1. Zest all lemons into the mixing bowl.
   Be sure not to get into the white bits of the lemon which can be very bitter.

2. Add eggs, lemon juice, and sugar.

3. Whisk at a low speed until combined.

4. Sift and fold in the flour.

Putting everything together

1. Give the lemon topping a final stir and then pour it over the hot baked crust.

2. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center jiggles like a firm jell-o. Be careful not to over bake.
   Use an oven mitt and tap the side of the pyrex tray.

3. Sift powdered sugar over the lemon bars while still warm.

4. Allow the bars to cool to room temperature before sticking them in the refrigerator to cool for at least 2 hours or overnight.

5. Wipe the knife clean between each cut. Serve chilled.