Lemon Bars

This recipe is one I've been meaning to make for a very long time. It all started when my dad brought home some lemon bars that he bought at work from a co-worker. After he got a new job, he wasn't able to buy the bars anymore. Since then, he has repeatedly asked me to make them for him. So finally, I got myself to make these bars to make my dad happy.

At first, I attempted to make Meyer Lemon Squares from my beloved book Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking. For the first time, I am very sad to say, the book failed me. I literally had to throw out the whole pan of squares. Let me clarify - it wasn't that I messed up. In fact, the bars looked pretty good and I followed everything correctly. But the lemon curd tasted so horrible with its raw egg-like aftertaste (probably due to the many eggs the recipe contains). To say the least, I was pretty angry and disappointed because it was a lot of work making that nasty lemon curd.

Now my personality is such, that I hate to give up. If something goes wrong, I am determined to make it right. And so I looked for another recipe. I looked in my other books and I even looked online. Ultimately, I decided on a recipe from my new favorite book, Cookies: 1,001 Mouthwatering Recipes from Around the World. I was not disappointed! My whole family (including me) LOVED the lemon bars. And best of all, they are pretty easy to make.

The crust is DELICIOUS with the taste of buttery shortbread, and the creamy filling has just the right amount of lemon flavor. The perfect dessert for spring!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup confectioners'/icing sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut up

Filling-

•  1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• Grated zest and juice from 3 lemons
• 2 tbsp confectioners'/icing sugar, to dust

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

2. Sift the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt, and cut in the cold butter (use a food processor!) until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

3. Firmly press the dough into the prepared pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly brown. Cool the base completely in the pan, and lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

4. For the filling, sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Using a mixer, beat the egg and powdered sugar in another bowl at high speed until pale and thick.

5. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest. (Make sure to strain the lemon juice before pouring it in.) Add the dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated.

6. Pour the filling over the prepared base, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the filling is set but still a little wobbly in the center. (The mixture will continue to cook after it has been taken out of the oven.)

7. Cool completely in the pan, and dust with confectioners' sugar and cut into bars. (It will keep in the fridge for about 4 days, and makes about 16-25 bars.)

Buttermilk Lemon Poundcake

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp each: baking soda and baking powder
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 cup buttermilk
  

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.

2. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth and creamy. Slowly add the sugar, beating constantly, until smooth and well blended. Add the eggs; beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

 

3. Sprinkle about half of the flour mixture over the butter mixture; beat until well blended. Stir the lemon extract and lemon zest into the buttermilk. Beat half of the buttermilk mixture into the batter. Add the remaining flour and buttermilk mixtures; beat until the batter is smooth and well blended.

5. Pour the batter into greased and floured bundt pan; bake until tester inserted in the center of the came comes out clean, 1- 1 ¼ hours. Remove from the oven; let cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Turn out onto the rack to cool completely.