The other day, I stumbled across an old journal entry of mine about lemon bars. I really hadn't given the dessert a second thought for the longest time...but as soon as I read about how I'd made them and how tart and delicious they were, my mouth was watering. I wanted one right then and there.
I referred to a few notes that I jotted down back in the day. They read as follows:
"The key is to pat the shortbread crust out evenly and then work the dough up the sides with damp fingers. Also with damp fingers, even out the bottom. This will make the crust perfect every time."
and
"You must mix the custard by hand. In my experience, a electric mixer incorporates too much air into the mixture and ends up making unfortunate bubbles when baking."
I also noted to "drop the pan on the counter a couple of times to get the bubbles to the surface before baking.
Did I follow my own advice? For the most part.
I tried but I didn't pay enough attention to coaxing the crust up the sides of the pan. While it wasn't too difficult to get the edge pieces out, they were a bit less than perfect looking. Plus...the pan was a pain and a half to clean! Make certain your shortbread goes up the side as far us as the filling is going to go to avoid this!
Trust me. Lesson learned (again).
Another Note: Lemon bars need a thick crust. I mean...can you really have too much shortbread? Nope.
So I doubled it.
Lemon Bars
with Rose Scented Shortbread Crust
Makes 16 squares
the Ingredients
Crust (already doubled):
2 cups butter
1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tsp Lemon Zest
1/2 tsp rosewater
2 cups All Purpose Flour
pinch of Salt
Topping:
4 Eggs
2 cup Sugar
4 TBSP Flour
6 TBSP Fresh Lemon Juice (1-2 lemons)
the Method
Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Get out a 8"x8" baking pan.
To make the crust, beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer until creamy. Add the lemon zest, rose water, flour and salt and mix completely. Dump the mixture out into the pan and press with your fingers until it covers bottom and goes a ways up the side. You can wet your fingers to make this easier, if needed.
Bake the crust until golden brown ~ 25 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Beat the eggs, sugar, flour, lemon juice and zest until blended completely. Pour this over the cooled crust. Gently drop the pan to remove any bubbles in the filling before putting it into the oven.
Bake for ~25 or until the top is dry and slightly browned (not much at all). The filling will still be soft and gooey in the center. Cool again and cut once completely cooled. It helps to wipe the knife off after each pass to keep the bars pretty crumb-free!
If you want, you can top with a dusting of powdered sugar right before serving...although they're so good it's not really needed!
*Recipe adapted slightly from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book--my favorite resource for baking recipes!
