I've been working on how to make The Perfect Lemon Bars Recipe for a while now... but you see, it's not that easy. The crust should be tender and buttery without being too gritty, crumbly, or worse... soggy. The filling should be a perfect balance between tart and sweet, but not too tart and it should complement and not overtake the buttery, melt in your mouth shortbread. Hungry?
A lemon bar is a marriage between shortbread and lemon curd and if one ain't right, the whole thing goes bad. I am going to make a bold statement and tell you that this is the best shortbread and the best lemon curd you will ever taste. In fact, go ahead and throw out every other recipe because you've finally found "the one".
It wasn't easy perfecting this recipe. For three days, I made batch after batch and forced lemon bars down everyone's throat. My daughter asked if I was trying to make them fat. I was obsessed... but I would not stop until the lemon bar snob himself, my husband, yelled "PERFECT"!!!
Now this is a lemon bar!
You can make the shortbread crust ahead of time and refrigerate unbaked for several hours or overnight along with the lemon curd if you like. A couple of hours before serving, remove shortbread pan from the refrigerator and bake for 20-25 minutes as directed in step 7. Allow the lemon curd to come to room temperature as the shortbread is baking and follow the rest of the directions as indicated.
Makes 12 Bars
Shortbread
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter (6 oz ), cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a 9x9 inch square pan with butter, then cover the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
3. Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulsate until combined and crumbly (about 15-20 short 5 second pulses). The shortbread mix should go from looking like flour to a more yellow color and will be adhering to the sides of the food processor bowl.
4. Pour the crumbly mixture into the pan, and using your hands press down firmly until packed and shortbread mixture is spread evenly.
5. Refrigerate the pan for at least 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, begin making the lemon curd (recipe below).
7. Remove pan from the refrigerator and bake for 20-25 minutes (crust should be lightly browned around edges). Then remove pan and place on a cooling rack.
8. Pour the lemon curd over the top of the warm shortbread, and spread with a spatula until evenly covered.
9. Bake for 10-15 minutes until lemon curd is bubbling slightly around edges and is set, but slightly jiggly in the middle.
10. Cool on a rack until completely cool (about an hour), and then cut into 2" squares.
Dust with confectioners sugar and serve.
You can refrigerate any leftovers covered with plastic wrap, or stored in Tupperware. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Lemon Curd
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
1 teaspoon lemon zest (zest from 4 lemons)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 ounces unsalted butter (1 stick)
8 egg yolks
Zest the lemons, and then juice them. Pour juice and zest into a medium sized sauce pan and add the sugar and butter. heat on medium-low until butter is melted and mixture is simmering around edges of pan. Reduce heat to low.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and then with the whisk ready in your hand begin slowly pouring the egg yolks into the hot lemon mixture in a thin stream as you are whisking as quickly as possible. Failure to do so will result in scrambled eggs! ** Continue whisking until the mixture is thickened (about 5-10 minutes, or more depending on heat), but do not allow it to boil or it will curdle (it's okay if it is simmering around the edges). You want this to be more "thick" than "liquid". Think of the consistency of custard or pastry cream.
Cool lemon curd on a rack until shortbread is done cooking. It's okay if it's still warm when you pour it onto the shortbread.
**if you are not used to this technique, a safer method for beginners is to pour some of the hot lemon juice mixture into the eggs in a thin stream while whisking very quickly and then pour the egg-lemon juice mixture back into the sauce pan in a thin stream while whisking quickly.
Cool lemon curd on a rack until shortbread is done cooking. It's okay if it's still warm when you pour it onto the shortbread.
**if you are not used to this technique, a safer method for beginners is to pour some of the hot lemon juice mixture into the eggs in a thin stream while whisking very quickly and then pour the egg-lemon juice mixture back into the sauce pan in a thin stream while whisking quickly.
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