Tangy! Sweet! Lemony! Goodness

Who doesn’t like hot summer days and a refreshing glass of lemonade.  That sweet and sour deliciousness.  Well, I love baking and have always loved fruity desserts, one of my favorites has to be lemon bars.  Although, I am a little picky and well lets just say spoiled when it comes to a good lemon bar.  My aunt, has the best lemon bars I have ever tasted.  Delicious shortbread crust with ooey-gooey lemony goodness baked right on top.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

Crust

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take one cup of cold butter, two cups of flour and one-half cups of powdered sugar.  Place them all in a bowl.  Using a pastry blender or two knifes cut the cold butter into the flour and powdered sugar.  Don’t worry if the crust doesn’t quite come together all the way, it should still remain a little crumbly.

Gently press the dough into a prepared pan.  (To prepare your pan coat in butter and flour) Usually this recipe calls for you to use a 9×13 inch pan, but you can also use a 8×8 if you wish to have a thicker lemon bar.

Bake in an oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 min or till firm and pale.

While your crust is baking in the oven its time to make your lemon filling.  Take your lemon bar filling ingredients and place them in a bowl.  4 eggs, 6 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 5 tablespoons of flour.

Once your curst is finished baking take your crust out of the oven and decrease the oven temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pour the filling over the par-baked crust and set it in the oven to bake for approximately another 30 mins.

Let cool to room temperature and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.  If you sprinkle the powder sugar before the lemon bars cool it will melt.

I actually think these lemon bars taste better the next day or even straight out of the refrigerator.  But they are just as good right out of the oven.

Lemon Bar variations:

You can easily change out the lemon juice in this recipe for any other citrus.  I am sure it will taste just as delicious.  I have yet to try it, but here in Hawaii we have an abundance of passion fruit or lilikoi.  As lilikoi is a local favorite, I’m sure substituting the lemon juice for lilikoi juice will taste just as great.  I will let you know how it turns out once I get a chance to make them.