A Classic Lemon Bar


Hello all! Happy Monday! I hope you had a fabulous weekend. This week's recipe is actually a first for me. I have always loved lemon bars, but had actually never made them until I made these. The recipe is long, but if you stick to it, you should be just fine. All I will say is that they are serious about the chilling time. I didn't let these chill for quite long enough and they are not quite set.

Ingredients:

Crust-
3/4 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling-
1 1/3 cups fresh lemon juice- this was nine lemons for me
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions: 

Crust-
Preheat oven to 350. 
Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat butter, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl until butter is almost completely smooth, about 2 minutes.
Increase speed to medium and beat until butter is creamy, about 2 more minutes.
Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add flour, and beat until no dry spots remain.
firmly press dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 13 x 9 baking dish. I put parchment paper in first so they wouldn't stick. You really want the base to be as even and thin as possible so make sure you are firmly pressing it down.
Bake crust until golden brown on the bottom and a shade or two darker at the edges, 25-35 minutes. 
Remove dish from oven and reduce oven to 300 degrees.

Filling-
Combine lemon juice, salt and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Add vanilla. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. 
Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks, eggs, and remaining 1 cup sugar in a medium bowl until no longer grainy and slightly lightened in color.
Whisking constantly, gradually stream hot lemon mixture into egg mixture, then transfer mixture back to saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and marks from whisk are just visible, 5-7 minutes. 
Remove from heat and whisk in butter, adding a couple of pieces at a time and whisking until incorporated before adding more.  
Strain warm curd through a fine-mesh sieve into warm crust and bake until curd is set around the edges (filling should still wobble when dish is jiggled), 15-20 minutes.
Do not overbake or filling may curdle.
Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 2 hours. Then chill until cold...at least an hour.

These are such a classic and so delicious! Recipe is from Bon Appetit! Until next time, XO


Labels: , ,