A buttery shortbread crust, with a lovely creamy lemon filling – these are by fare the best Lemon Bars I ever made or had.

I simply love  lemon desert, in any possible form.  Lemon Bars, Lemon Cake, Lemon Muffins ….etc. They are fresh and bright and make me think at Spring or Summer time. Every time I’m in the kitchen thinking what can I bake,  first think that come in my head is something with lemon,  if not, is something with apples. Why apples? Because any apples deserts are my husband favourites, and are the deserts that probably I have baked most in my life. Surprisingly I never manage to make good pictures with my delicious apples desert, just because they vanish . But getting back to our Lemon Bars for today….

You will only need 7 basic ingredients,  and are simple and easy to make. Is not that just grate? Because every time we get in the kitchen, all we want is something delicious, tangy and easy to make. Not to mention that we don’t want to have a big mess to clean at the end. So…

Ingredients that you need.

• all-purpose flour
• butter
• eggs
• lemon juice and zest
• sugar
• butter
• salt

How to make these Lemon Bars?

1. I have tried so many lemon desert, and Lemon Bras over the years, and what I can say is that if you are a lemon desert fan, make sure you start by making them with real fresh lemon zest and juice. Don’t even bother to bake using bottle lemon juice. I know is easier, maybe even cheaper, but the taste is not even close of what you will want to be when not using fresh lemon juice.
2. Then what we are after is the balance between the crispy shortbread and the creamy lemony filling. Some times is to much of filling for me. I love to have  a strong lemon flavour in my bars, however,  is not the filling that I’m after. I want balance, I want crunchy base and tangy lemony filling. So for that this recipes is calling for a thick shortbread base, because that way  the filling can be balanced and don’t  fell that you just had a full mouth of lemon cream filling.
3. Make sure you have all the ingredients at the room temperature and your Lemon Bars are baked to the correct temperature as well.

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Lemon Bars

A buttery shortbread crust, with a lovely creamy lemon filling – these are by fare the best Lemon Bars I ever made or had.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Bars, Lemon Bars, Lemon Dessert

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Author Mihaela

Ingredients

Shortbread crust

• 230 gr melted butter
• 300 gr all purpose flour
• 100 gr sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• ½ tsp salt

Lemon Filling

• 220 ml lemon juice
• 300 gr sugar
• 5 large eggs room temperature
• 45 gr all purpose flour

Instructions

Shortbread

• Line the bottom and the sides of a 9x13 baking pan, with parchment paper, making sure leaving more out on the sides, as that it will help lifting out the bars from the pan at the end.Set aside. Preheat the oven at 170° C .
• In a medium bowl, mix the sugar and lemon zest. Then add the melted butter and mix again until all combine. Gradually add the flour and stir until completely combine. The dough will be thick. Press firmly into prepared pan, making sure the layer of crust is nice and even. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Lemon Filling

• In a large bowel, whisk the sugar and flour, then add the eggs, one at the time. At the end add the lemon juice ans stir until completely combine. Pour the filling over the worm crust and bake for another 22-25 minutes, or the centre is set an no longer jiggles. Remove the bars from the oven and cool completely at room temperature for 1 -2 hours.

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