My Favourite Basic Lemon Bars Recipe Pleasure the Baker

When life palms you lemons, make lemon bars! This lemon bar recipe is the right approach so as to add a chunk of sunshine to the day. These bars boast a buttery and flippantly spiced shortbread crust, and a creamy easy lemon filling that’s the right mixture of tangy and candy. Take pleasure in a sq. (or two) of those my favourite lemon bars and brighten up your day/week/month. They’re that good!

wider shot of lemon bars stacked on a plate with a bite taken out of one lemon bar

There’s an previous Wilson household cookbook that I laid declare to early in my baking days.  It’s a kind of spiral sure, church-compiled cookbooks that doesn’t fairly lay flat and bunches on the seams. I took to this ebook for all of it’s church girl baking knowledge, leaving dates and notes alongside every recipe I attempted.

By far probably the most butter stained web page on this ebook is the recipe Lemon Squares.  They had been easy sufficient for a younger Pleasure the Baker to make on her personal however like… a dessert with layers? A number of steps?  I felt like a baby baking prodigy. I used to be actually within the kitchen doin’ somthin’.

At present’s recipe continues our month of CLASSIC BAKES, taking it again to that floppy previous cookbook.  Right here’s my very favourite basic lemon bars recipe.  True to its roots, with a little bit additional lemon and spice.

ingredients for lemon bars recipe

Listed here are the components you’ll want for my Basic Lemon Bars recipe:

•  recent lemons are important for lemon bars. Skip the jarred lemon juice.  You’ll need the tartness of recent squeezed lemon juice together with lemon zest from the skins

•  unsalted butter, at room temperature

•  giant eggs

•  granulated sugar

•  all-purpose flour

•  cornstarch

•  sea salt or kosher salt

•  floor coriander, non-obligatory however pretty

•  powdered sugar

We’ll begin this candy little lemon dessert within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  If the considered dragging the mixer from its house within the cupboard onto the counter prime is simply an excessive amount of, I get it – a medium bowl with a handheld electrical mixer will do the blending simply as properly.

Mix flour, sugar, softened butter, salt, coriander (my favourite refined balancing spice for citrus), and lemon zest.  A lot lemon taste is hiding out within the zest, I like to double down on its powers for each the shortbread crust and the lemon filling.

The shortbread crust combination shall be slightly shaggy and really feel heavy with butter – that might be appropriate.

Put together the baking pan by first lining two sides with parchment paper.  Permit the parchment to come back up two sides of the pan.  These are little handles that may make the baked lemon bars simpler to elevate and take away from the pan after they’re baked.

I favor metallic pans over a glass pan for this lemon bars recipe.  A metallic pan will warmth the shortbread crust sooner, crisping the perimeters of the buttery crust earlier than it has an opportunity to get soggy. 

Press the crust into the ready pan and set it off to bake when you assemble the lemon filling.

The lemon filling is an easy combination of eggs, sugar, lemon zest (we love her), flour and cornstarch (to assist set the curd), and a beneficiant pour of recent lemon juice.  Whisk to mix.  It’s actually that straightforward.

pouring lemon filling on top of baked crust for lemon bars

The par-baked crust shall be simply golden across the edges and barely wrinkled throughout the highest. It received’t be fully cooked by means of and that’s precisely proper.  Pour the lemon curd filling over the nice and cozy buttery shortbread crust and pop all of it again within the oven to bake till the filling is ready.

You’ll know the lemon bars are cooked by means of and set when the highest jiggles barely however doesn’t have wave like jiggles. Waves imply the bars want extra time within the oven.  A strong jiggle means it’s performed!

Permit the bars to chill utterly earlier than slicing. You’ll be able to even velocity up the method by sliding the pan into the fridge to fast chill the bars.  Use a pointy knife to chop the cooled lemon bars into squares.

We will’t name these lemon bars with out a beneficiant dusting of powdered sugar earlier than serving.

Professional Tip: Should you’re taking these lemon bars to potlucks or picnics, dust them with non-melting powdered sugar as a substitute of typical powdered sugar which might, over time, disappear by soaking into the bars.  

two lemon bars stacked on top of each other on a plate surrounded by other lemon bars

These actually are my finest lemon bars – largely basic with a refined trace of spice and an unimaginable quantity of lemon taste.  For a little bit twist, add poppy seeds and make Lemon Poppy Seed Bars, and for a gluten-free model attempt these Almond Flour Lemon Raspberry Bars.

Depart your questions, feedback, and charge the recipe beneath! Pleased baking, pals! xo

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wider shot of lemon bars stacked on a plate with a bite taken out of one lemon bar

My Favourite Basic Lemon Bars Recipe


  • Writer:
    Pleasure the Baker

  • Prep Time:
    20 minutes

  • Cook dinner Time:
    35 minutes

  • Whole Time:
    55 minutes

  • Yield:
    912 squares 1x

  • Class:
    dessert

  • Methodology:
    baking


Description

My very favourite lemon bar recipe with a gently spiced shortbread crust, cream lemon curd filling, and a beneficiant dusting of powdered sugar.


Substances


Scale

For the Crust:

For the Topping:


Directions

  1. Place a rack within the higher third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 levels F. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan, line with parchment paper (in order that it over hangs barely from the pan) and grease the parchment paper. Put aside.
  2. To make the crust, within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a bowl with an electrical hand mixer, cream collectively butter, sugar, and lemon zest till gentle and fluffy, 3 to five minutes. Cease the mixer and scrape down the edges of the bowl. Add flour, salt, and coriander. Beat on low velocity till dough is included. Dough might come collectively, but when it stays shaggy, that’s tremendous too.
  3. Dump the crust into the ready pan and use your fingertips to press the dough into the underside of the pan. Bake for quarter-hour till simply browned across the edges.
  4. You may make the filling whereas the crust is baking! In a medium bowl, whisk collectively eggs, sugar, and lemon zest till properly mixed and barely thick. Add the flour, cornstarch lemon juice, and salt and whisk till blended.
  5. Pour the filling over the nonetheless heat baked crust. Return to the oven and bake for 18 to twenty minutes, or till flippantly browned on prime and not wavy-jiggling within the middle.
  6. Permit to chill utterly within the pan. Inserting them within the fridge will assist the bars cool sooner and set extra firmly. Run a knife across the edges of the pan. Slice lemon bars into 9 squares. Use the over hanging parchment paper to elevate the squares out. Mud generously with powdered sugar earlier than serving.
  7. To retailer the lemon bars, place them in an hermetic container separated by wax paper layers.


Key phrases: lemon bars, lemon, shortbread, straightforward recipe, lemon dessert