Sunshine Lemon Bars

Sometime, in the early '90's, I first discovered "Lemon Bars". I don't know what rock I'd been living under, to have missed this iconic cookie. All I know is that it was love at first bite, for my son. Did you know that it is said that Betty Crocker's R&D department developed this cookie in 1963?

Since then, I've seen them at Starbucks and many bakeries. I just can't resist them, either.

If you've never had a Lemon Bar, think of this cookie as a layer of shortbread (no eggs) with a gooey, yet creamy, filling of lemony sweetness, dusted with powdered sugar. For some reason, I have forgotten about making these, even though I see all kinds of versions of this classic cookie. So, why would I want to post mine? I'll tell you why in a moment.

I am very thankful that my husband has taken an interest in growing fruit trees.  He has nurtured our Eureka lemon tree, and he is being repaid with plenty of lemons for me to use.  Our Meyer lemon tree hasn't been quite so forthcoming, but I still hold on to the hope that it will finally cough up more than the one handful of fruit  it has produced. The tree is still very young, so I it's not quite bursting with fruit, but I'm sure that time will come.

With lemons coming into season, I'm starting to see (and "pin") plenty of lemon recipes.  I realized that it has been many years since I've made lemon bars for my son, and husband. 

The recipe I've been using makes a tender shortbread crust, because it uses powdered sugar, instead of granulated sugar. That makes for a really tender shortbread crust, and that's why I like this recipe so much. My food processor makes this happen very quickly.

Do you see that metal "binder clip" that's holding down my parchment paper sling? Thank you, Martha Stewart, for sharing that tip.  It works great! The crust is par-baked for 15 minutes.

For the filling, I sift sugar, flour, and baking powder into a bowl ...

I've increased the lemon juice from 4 tablespoons to 1/4 cup. I'm not shy about using the zest of two lemons, either.

Eggs are whisked in, and then the filling is poured on top of the partially baked crust, and then baked for another 25 minutes.

Making a parchment paper sling makes removing the baked cookie easy to do. Once I let them cool for about 30 minutes, they are cut into individual bars and dusted with powdered sugar.

TASTING NOTES: "Booyah"!  I've never tasted a lemon bar cookie I didn't like.  I mean, what's not to love?  They taste of buttery, flaky deliciousness.  I absolutely adore the taste of lemon-- admittedly, more than I do chocolate. I'm not ashamed.  Even though I've increased the amount of lemon juice that I use, these aren't so tart, that your eyes squint.  They're just good. Strike that. They're amazing, in the words of my son. Even though my little boy has grown to be 6'4 tall, his smile still makes my heart melt. That smile, and his praises, makes the time I took to bake these worthwhile.

Personally, I love these with a cup of hot tea.  The best.  Seriously.

I always post a printable recipe card at the end of each recipe post. If you cannot view it, you might be using an older version of InternetExplorer. You should be able to view my recipe cards with Safari, Mozilla, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. If you still can't view the recipe card, all of my recipes are stored on Key Ingredient, by clicking here. If you still can't figure out how to view the printable recipe card, please email me at foodiewife@gmail.com and I am happy to help.