Goldilocks Kitchen Lemon Bars
Goldilocks Kitchen Lemon Bars are a Perfectly bright and Sweet Summer Treat
Oh my goodness… if you are a fan of lemon bars, let me introduce you the best recipe out there: my new Goldilocks Kitchen Lemon Bars!
These lemon bars have the perfect balance of sweet/tart and are complimented with a lovely almond shortbread crust. You can even add some dried lavender to it if you can find some (health food stores are a good place to start). I left it out of the batch seen in these photos, but fresh lavender flours make a beautiful garnish, don’t you think?
How to make Goldilocks Kitchen Lemon Bars
Bake the almond shortbread crust first by creaming together butter and sugar, then adding in almond flour, all purpose flour and some lemon zest to carry the lemon flavor through to the crust as well. Press the dough into a pan and bake until the edges are just beginning to turn golden brown. The photo above shows the crust fresh out of the oven!
Next, you’re going to make a deliciously rich homemade lemon curd by cooking eggs, additional egg yolks, sugar, salt, lemon juice and more zest in a sauce pan until it thickens up to a pudding-like consistency. Strain your freshly cooked lemon curd and stir in unsalted butter and heavy cream to give it a silky texture and take some of the acidic tartness out of the lemon.
Pour the lemon curd over the crust and place the pan back into the oven to bake for an additonal 25-30 minutes or until the curd is set in the middle.
Remove and set out to cool on a cooling rack for at least an hour.
Just before slicing and serving, dust with confectioner’s sugar. If the sugar sits long enough on the bars, it will slowly be absorbed into the curd and dissapear; if this happens, just dust it again ;0)
These bars are perfect for tea time, picnics, book club meeting, summertime gatherings, or anytime you want to serve a light and sweet dessert with a little bit of tart to make things fun!
I know you’ll enjoy making these lovely lemon bars; please leave me a comment with your thoughts on the recipe. You know I love hearing from my readers, after all that’s what blogging is all about!
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Goldilocks Kitchen Lemon Bars
- Total Time: 21 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
Description
These delightfully delicious lemon bars make the perfect treat to take on a picnic, present to your bookclub, or serve at your next backyard barbecue. They have just the right amount of sweet/tart flavor and the lemony flavor is complemented with an almond shortbread crust. Happen to have some dried culinary lavender lying around? Add a tablespoon and a half to the crust before baking for a light floral-flavor component.
Ingredients
Crust
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- (optional) 1 and 1/2 tablespoons dried crushed lavender
Custard
- 5 large eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5 or 6 lemons)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 3 pieces
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
Topping
- 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
- (optional) lemon peel garnish
Instructions
- Move an oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×9 baking pan with foil, folding an overhang over the edges.
- Cream butter and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Add all-purpose flour, almond flour, lemon zest (and lavender if using) and beat until crumbly. Press into even layer in prepared pan. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until edges are just turning golden brown. Remove and place on a cooling rack, and leave your oven on.
- While crust is cooling, whisk eggs, yolks, sugar, salt lemon juice and zest in a saucepan. Place saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constanty, until thickened to a pudding texture.
- Press lemon custard through a fine mesh strainer into a mixing bowl and stir in the butter and cream. Pour custard over crust and bake for about 30 minutes, or until set in the middle (not jiggly). Cool completely, about an hour. Using the foil overhangs, lift the bars out of the pan. Dust with powdered sugar just before slicing and serving.
Notes
This recipe is for a 9X9 inch metal baking pan; if using an 8X8 inch pan you will need to increase baking times for both crust and lemon custard, or slightly reduce the recipe ingredient amounts.
To get the look in the photos:
Cut strips of parchment paper and gently lay them over lemon bars before dusing with sugar. I used an OXO Citrus Prep Peeler to get the long continuous strip of lemon zest in the center.
- Prep Time: 20 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 lemon bar
- Calories: 289
- Sugar: 24.8 g
- Sodium: 124 mg
- Fat: 15.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 8.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 34.4 g
- Protein: 4.5 g
- Cholesterol: 143 mg
This is an amazing..Emily…& sound so delicious as well…i really enjoyed your recipe, loved your photograph as well. I can’t wait make it and its perfect treat for anyone in hot summer…Thanks for sharing…!
Saw something different and I loved it. Amazing job done by you dear.
Wonderful and unique dessert, I loved it, thank you for sharing the recipe.
Hey!
Saw something different and I loved it. Amazing job done by you dear.
This looks so yummy that i want to try it right away. Great recipe and expecting more like these in the future.
I’ve always considered caregivers modern-day heroes, especially those that do it to help their family. I totally agree that respite care can help them catch their breath after some time of providing care for their loved one, which, admittedly, can get real stressful.
Great tips, teaching kids about health and hygiene at a young age can be really good, also great pictures, keep sharing.
Hello
This is an amazing..Emily…& sound so delicious as well…i really enjoyed your recipe, loved your photograph as well. I can’t wait make it and its perfect treat for anyone in hot summer…Thanks for sharing