I love lemon desserts! I even love just what lemon zest adds to savory foods and baked goods. Lemon adds brightness and a pleasant little extra sumthin sumthin to every bite.
Myer lemon are a cross between lemon and a mandarin orange. The skin is fragrant , deep yellow and slightly orange when ripe. The pulp is very juicy, sweeter and less acidic than the more commonly used Eureka lemon you find in conventional supermarkets. Although, many grocery stores now sell them when they are in season, which is usually mid November through January.
My friend and neighbor Renato recently gave me a huge bag of these beautiful lemons from a neighboring property. I was thrilled, as I always keep lemons around to flavor a variety of foods, including sauces, dressings, drinks, bakes and roasted chicken. There were so many, I ended up juicing some of them and freezing the juice in covered ice cube trays for a later use…like liquid gold!
I often make these lemon bars when friends come to visit me in Palm Springs for a sweet afternoon treat. And not that long ago I made some for my dear friends Al and Carolyn Kong while they were here visiting their son. It gave me great joy to hear how much they enjoyed them. I now will often think of them when I make them…such a beautiful reference.
This recipe was adapted from the Model Bakery Cookbook.When I first came upon it, I thought the amount of sugar seemed a bit alarming, however, after trying out the recipe, the balance of sweet and the tartness from the lemon was absolute perfection. I would definetly recommend not altering the sugar amount.
Thank you Renato for the lemons and thank you Al and Carolyn for inspiring this bake. Come back and visit soon!
Ingredients
- Crust
- 1 cups (120g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (115 g) unsalted butter cut into 1/2 pieces
- 1/4 cup (30 g) confectioners’ sugar
- a pinch of salt
Filling
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tbs (60 g) unbleached all purpose flour
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 4 tbs (57g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/4 cup of Myer lemon juice (if you can’t find Myer lemons you can use conventional lemons)
- a pinch of salt
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Directions
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat at 350°.
- Grease an 8″ square baking pan with baking spray and line the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper that is long enough to come up about two inches past the edges of the pan on two sides and lightly spray again. This will allow you to easily lift the entire bake out of the pan.
- Crust: Mix together, flour confectioners and salt in a bowl. Using a pastry blender, two knives or your fingers, cut in butter until coated with flour and mixture is crumbly and able to hold together if squeezed with your fingers.
- Press flour/butter mixture firmly into the bottom of pan and up the sides as evenly as possible.
- Bake crust for about 15 to minutes or until golden brown. Remove pan out of the oven and set on a rack while you mix the filling.
- Filling: In a medium bowl, whisk sugar and flour together, adding eggs, lemon juice and stir until well combined and smooth
- Pour filling over crust and bake for about 20 minutes or filling is set in the middle.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a rack. Run a small sharp knife around the edge of crust and around the inside of pan. Using the parchment paper overhang on both sides, carefully lift the lemon square in one piece and place on a cutting board. Cut into squares and sift some confectioners’ sugar evenly over the bars before serving.
- Bars can be stored in the refrigerator in airtight container up to 3-4 days.