…and we mean that in the best possible way. You may have had lemon bars before – some sad square from a bakery case overloaded with sugar. Sound familiar? These are those guys on dessert steroids. Just look at them.
One bite of these and you’ll be reborn. You never realized how good lemon bars can be. Whip up a batch and see for yourself.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
Curd
3/4 meyer lemon juice (about 6 Meyer lemons)
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
3 yolks
1 cup sugar (add 1/2 more if you like it sweeter)
4 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup fruity extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Pinch of sea salt
Garnishment (optional)
Raspberries
Mint leaves
powdered sugar
Here’s what to do:
Heat oven to 325 degrees and line a 9×9 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Have enough paper that’ll hang over the two sides which you’ll need to use as handles later to lift the bars out of the pan.
To make the shortbread, pulse or whisk together all the ingredients except the butter. When it’s well mixed, add butter and pulse, or use your fingers to mix the butter with the dry ingredients. Dough should look crumbly. Remove dough and press into prepared pan. Bake till golden, about 30 minutes.
Prepare the curd while the shortbread is baking. Grate 1 tablespoon lemon zest and squeeze lemon to yield 3/4 cup juice.
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice and cornstarch till the cornstarch dissolves. In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch mixture with sugar, eggs, yolks, sea salt and heat it over medium heat until it boils and thickens. Mixture needs to come to a boil else the cornstarch will not thicken the mixture. Boil for only 1 minute and remove from heat.
Strain curd into a bowl. Whisk in butter, olive oil and lemon zest.
When the shortbread is ready, remove from oven. Carefully pour the lemon curd onto the shortbread. Return to oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes till the top is set.
Let it cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until cold before cutting. When ready to cut, use the overhanging parchment paper to lift the entire bar from the pan. After cutting into bars, garnish with sprinkled powdered sugar, raspberry and mint leaves.
