Lemon Bars

Maybe if I keep posting recipes that remind me of spring, our good pal Punxutawney Phil will not see his shadow this Sunday, and spring will show it's pretty little face early this year?!

HA!

"yeah right, wishful thinking" says the gal from Wyo.

Well, I'm gunna continue to make these bright, cheerful, yummy spring recipes anyways.

Next on the list are these lemon bars, again made with my favorite, Meyer lemons. I now only have two left in the bag....trying to find/think up one more recipe to finish them off! 

The lemon filling is smooth and creamy with just the perfect amount of lemon flavor and tartness, and the crust for these bars is like a sugar cookie, which makes them even better.

Crust 
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, partially soft and diced into 3/4-inch cubes* 
1/4 to1/2 cup ice cold water
 
Filling 
2 cups granulated sugar
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon zest
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh navel orange juice
4 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
3 1/2 Tbsp heavy cream
 
Directions 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, set aside. In a food processor (you can also just use a bowl and a whisk then a fork or your fingertips to cut in butter), pulse together flour, powdered sugar, brown sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Add diced butter and pulse until mixture begins to come together in crumbles Slowly pulse and drizzle in ice cold water until mixture becomes a dough. Press mixture into an even layer on bottom and 1/2-inch up the sides of the prepared baking dish (be sure to press together any cracks). Bake in preheated oven until lightly golden, about 20 minutes (zest lemons then juice lemons and oranges while crust is baking and begin to prepare filling because you want to pour filling over a hot crust).
Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, flour and 1/8 tsp salt. Several minutes before crust is done baking, mix in lemon juice, orange juice and lemon zest, then add eggs, egg yolks and heavy cream and whisk vigorously to blend well. Pour mixture over hot crust, then reduce oven temperature to 325 and return to oven and bake until filling is just set, about 20 - 25 minutes. Allow to cool at room temperature 1 hour, then cover and chill in refrigerator about 1 1/2 - 2 hours or overnight (if resting overnight I'd recommend letting them rest at room temperature a bit before serving). Cut into squares and dust tops with powdered sugar just before serving. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator. 





 Since this recipe makes a whole 9x13 pan and there is no reason besides the fact that I'd eat them to have that many lemon bars in the house; I halved the recipe to make an 8x8.



Recipe source: Cooking Classy