Tangy Lemon Bars
We had friends come over for dinner. I made Julia Child’s Favorite Roasted Chicken with Creamy Mashed Potatoes and my friend brought a delicious spinach salad. I found a recipe for tangy lemon bars on Oprah.com that looked too good to resist. They took a little bit of time to make but oh so worth it! The lemon was tangy, tart, and sweet while the shortbread crust was flakey and so flavorful. We all, my kids included, loved these delicious and tart lemon bars.
How to Make Tangy Lemon Bars
Adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8-inch glass baking pan with cooking spray. Place a piece of wax paper in the bottom of the pan, allowing the excess (oven proof) wax paper (or parchment or tin foil) to hang over the sides, to aid in removing the baked lemon bars from the pan. Spray the wax paper with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and butter and mix with a beater on medium-low speed until the mixture resembles coarse wet sand. Don’t overmix or let the mixture come together into a dough.
Firmly press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Place into the freezer for 15 minutes.
Remove from the freezer and immediately place into the oven. Bake until light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and set it aside.
Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and cornstarch until well combined. Add the lemon juice and eggs and whisk until combined. Strain the mixture directly onto the prepared crust.
Place into the oven and bake 30 minutes, or until the filling does not jiggle when tapped. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then refrigerate for 2 hours to set.
Cut the lemon bars into 9-12 squares. Sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar through a sieve over the top of the bars. Serve and enjoy.
Ingredients
- Crust:
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup powdered sugar plus extra for dusting
- Pinch of salt
- 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- Lemon filling:
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- 4 large eggs
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8-inch glass baking pan with cooking spray. Place a piece of (ovenproof) wax paper (or parchment or tin foil) in the bottom of the pan, allowing the excess wax paper to hang over the sides, to aid in removing the baked lemon bars from the pan. Spray the wax paper with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and butter and mix with a beater on medium-low speed until the mixture resembles coarse wet sand. Don't overmix or let the mixture come together into a dough.
- Firmly press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Place into the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the freezer and immediately place into the oven. Bake until light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and set it aside. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
- Meanwhile, make the filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and cornstarch until well combined. Add the lemon juice and eggs and whisk until combined. Strain the mixture directly onto the prepared crust.
- Place into the oven and bake 30 minutes, or until the filling does not jiggle when tapped. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then refrigerate for 2 hours to set.
- Cut the lemon bars into 9-12 squares. Sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar through a sieve over the top of the bars. Serve and enjoy.
They are my favourites!!!
Wait a minute, WAX paper in the oven??? Don’t you mean parchment?
Katie,
I used microwave/oven safe wax paper but feel free to use parchment or tin foil if you’d prefer.
Cheers,
Pam
Sounds like a wonderful dinner. You are right these bars are too good to resist
That do looks too good to resist. Very very tempting!!!
following chicken and taters with classic lemon bars is pretty much a perfect meal!
I can never get enough lemon bars! LOVE these!
Usually dont copy recipes that dont have pictures. In this case I did. Please put pictures on when printing……….
Did you try Control button then the P key to see if it would include the pictures. This usually works. There’s more than one way to Cook an egg! Hope this helps if you get back here to read it!
Ok… Was it me? I made these but when I removed from pan the crust was on the top and the lemon filling on the bottom??? They still were delicious but messy
Pam,
I am not sure what happened… I’ve made these bars several times and I haven’t run into that problem. I am sorry they were messy but glad you thought they were tasty.
Pam