Lemon Bars

I have posted this recipe on my photography blog  before but thought that I would share it here because it is a favorite of mine.

I love anything lemon.  Sweet, savory, lemon does it for me.  These lemon bars are one of my favorite desserts on the planet and completely remind me of my mom.  When I had my oldest son she came to my house to take care of us and these are the first thing that I asked her to make for me.  I love them.  They are easy to make, hold well, and freeze like a dream.  I usually cut the squares pretty small and freeze half a batch for another time.  I make these in my Cuisinart but you can easily make them by hand.  That is what Martha would do.  But as we all know, I am no Martha.

Also, had a bunch of gorgeous Meyer Lemons laying around and wanted to use them up.  They made these a little sweeter than I would have liked.  If I were to use Meyer Lemons again, I would have definitely reduced the amount of sugar in the filling or cut it with some full strength lemon.  I loved the bright yellow color that the Meyer lemons gave me, but these are supposed to be on the tart side.

For the crust:

2 cups flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
pinch of salt
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

For the filling:

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.  In a food processor, put the dry ingredients in the bowl and pulse.  Add the butter and pulse until it turns into the size of peas.  Press the crust into the bottom of the pan.  Bake the crust for 20 minutes.

Let the crust cool a bit and start on the filling.

Put all of the filling ingredients in the bowl of the food processor and process until smooth.  Right before you are ready to pour it over the crust, add the baking powder.  Give it one more whirl and you can pour it in.  Pour it gently on top of the crust or the crust can break.

Bake the lemon bars for another 25 minutes or until the lemon filling is set.

Cut into squares and share with a friend.