These easy-to-make lemon bars are extra lemony with a cup of fresh lemon juice in the filling!
A batch of lemon bars. This special occasion treat might be easier to make at holiday time in Southern California, where your neighbor just might have a lemon tree whose branches grow over the brick wall between your houses and into your yard, so that you are free to harvest as many ripe or almost-ripe lemons on your side of the wall as you want.
Ahem.
That is a 5-gallon bucket of ripening lemons right there.
Let’s just say we’ve made a lot of fresh lemonade this November. My boys demanded a lemon meringue pie, but never having made one before I decided to start with a simpler confection. So I tested a few lemon bar recipes and settled on something I can turn to again and again, and I can whip up fairly easily as long as I have enough eggs in the house.
So, with props to The Pioneer Woman, The Joy of Cooking, and the Food Network test kitchen, here’s my hacked-up recipe for lemon bars that are super lemony!
Super Lemon Bars
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. Nope, it’s a delicious lemon bar!
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into little cubes
4 large eggs + 2 egg yolks
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice
Directions
Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease a glass 9 x 13 baking dish
Mix flour, sugar, and salt
Add diced butter pieces and work them into the flour mixture with your fingers until the mix is pebbly and sandy
Press mixture evenly into the bottom of the baking dish
Bake for 20 minutes
Filling:
Beat eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl
Add flour and sugar
Add lemon juice and lemon zest; mix well
Pour filling over the baked crust
Return dish to oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until filling is solid
Let cool on stovetop or rack for 20 minutes. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours.
Sift confectioner’s sugar over the top (I just use a fine strainer). Cut into bars and enjoy!
Makes 24 bars – they are very rich, so a little goes a long way!
If you’re surfing for recipes for sweet treats to serve at your holiday party or to give as gifts, this week Savvy Sassy Moms is doing a blog hop featuring sweet treats! Check out this recipe for egg nog cookies – these I’ve gotta try -and the links at the bottom with more great ideas!