Lemon Bars

Happy Friday everyone! Today was the first day I had class. One class. I love zero week, since it means most labs and discussions are cancelled yay! Unfortunately, on Monday the storm will hit, but for now I’m still enjoying a little bit of freedom. Never mind about that quiz I have on Tuesday… Oh well. Anyway, here’s another one of the desserts I made for my dessert thank you party a couple nights ago. I used a crust recipe from a cheesecake bar recipe one of my friends from high school gave me, and I adapted the filling from Allrecipes. I hate it when recipes using lemons call for 1 teaspoon zest and 1 teaspoon juice or something like that. What am I supposed to do with the rest of my unused, but slightly wrung out lemon? I fixed this problem by using the zest and juice of two small lemons. This made these bars very lemon-y, so if you don’t like the tart citrus taste, these are not for you. You could try reducing to the zest and juice of just one lemon. However, if you love lemon flavor, then you’ll love these bars! The crust-to-filling ratio is about 1:1, which I really like. Since the crust is sweet, it offsets the tartness of the lemon filling to make a lovely lemon dessert. Here’s the recipe!

Lemon Bars

adapted from Allrecipes

Makes 25 small squares

Ingredients

Crust

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour

Filling

Zest and juice of two small lemons (about 1/4 cup lemon juice and 2 tsp lemon zest)

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

Powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and grease an 8×8 (I used this size) or 9×9 (for thinner bars) pan.

Cream together the brown sugar and butter for the crust, then mix in the flour. The dough will be crumbly. Press it firmly into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes, until slightly golden brown.

While the crust is baking, whisk together all the ingredients for the filling. Once the crust is baked, pour over the baked crust. Bake for an additional 15-18 minutes, until the filling is set. Be careful to not let it overbake and burn. Allow to cool and refrigerate for about an hour, then sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into small squares. Enjoy!