Lemon Bars

[vintagekitchen]

Omg, I love these. Most of the boxed ones anymore are too sweet, without enough tangy lemon flavor, and the crust is powdery and tasteless. These turn out PERFECT every time, the only problem is trying not to eat the entire pan at once, lol.

Crust-
1 stick butter
1/2 cup crisco
1/2 cup sugar
2 cup all purpose flour

Cream butter and crisco with mixer until fluffy. Beat in sugar, till well mixed. Mix in flour to form dough, and press into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees, until firm and golden.

Filling--
2/3 cup lemon juice (about 5 or 6 lemons, depending on size)
zest of the lemons
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour

While crust bakes, beat eggs with mixer in same bowl you used for the crust. Beat in sugar, flour, and zest, till well blended. Beat in lemon juice, and pour over crust. Return pan to oven, and bake an additional 20-25 minutes, until filling is set.

Let cool, dust top with powdered sugar, and cut into 12 bars.

 

[laundryboy]

Yummy. I'm going to make these this weekend. If the hurricane doesn't come
Ps your cute.

 

[kenmore71]

Will have to try soon. The chemistry of the recipe looks spot-on!
Thanks for the contribution!

 

[vintagekitchen]

Christopher

Thanks, ^__^

*blushes*

 

[mattl]

Citrus bars ... love 'em

Here is the recipe I use, I only make it for parties as it makes quite a bit.  It's from Martha's website....

 

 

 

<span class="category">Citrus Bars</span> <span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="text">Makes 48</span> <span class="italic"> </span>
<span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="category">For the crust:</span> <span class="text">3 1/2 </span>

<span class="text">cups <span class="text"> </span>all-purpose flour</span>

<span class="text">1/2 </span>

<span class="text">cup <span class="text"> </span>wheat germ</span>

<span class="text">1/2 </span>

<span class="text">cup <span class="text"> </span>confectioners’ sugar</span>

<span class="text">1/2 </span>

<span class="text">teaspoon <span class="text"> </span>salt</span>

<span class="text">1 </span>

<span class="text">pound (4 sticks) <span class="text"> </span>cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces</span> <span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="nbsp"> </span>

 

 

<span class="category">For the filling:</span> <span class="text"> </span>

<span class="text">8 </span>

<span class="text">large <span class="text"> </span>eggs</span> <span class="text"> </span>

<span class="text">4 </span>

<span class="text">cups <span class="text"> </span>granulated sugar</span> <span class="text"> </span>

<span class="text">2/3 </span>

<span class="text">cup <span class="text"> </span>all-purpose flour</span>

<span class="text">3/4 </span>

<span class="text">cup <span class="text"> </span>freshly squeezed lemon juice</span>

<span class="text">3/4 </span>

<span class="text">cup <span class="text"> </span>freshly squeezed lime juice</span>

<span class="text">1 </span>

<span class="text">tablespoon <span class="text"> </span>finely grated lemon zest</span>

<span class="text">1 </span>

<span class="text">finely <span class="text"> </span>tablespoon grated lime zest</span>

<span class="text">1 </span>

<span class="text">teaspoon <span class="text"> </span>salt</span> <span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="nbsp"> </span>

<span class="nbsp">
</span>

<span class="text">1.<span class="text">  </span>To make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, wheat germ, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Add butter, and cut in using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers, until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas.</span>

 

<span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="text">2.<span class="text">  </span>Press evenly into a 12 1/2-by-17 1/2-inch rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool.</span> <span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="nbsp"> </span>

 

<span class="text">3.<span class="text">  </span>To make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together, eggs, sugar, and flour. Add lemon and lime juice, lemon and lime zest, and salt. Whisk to combine. Pour over cooled crust.</span> <span class="nbsp"> </span> <span class="nbsp"> </span>

 

<span class="text">4.<span class="text">  </span>Bake until center is set, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Will keep, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.</span>

<span class="nbsp"> </span>

<span class="nbsp"> </span>

 

[vacbear58]

All sounds good

Now, for those who measure by weight I seem to recall that a stick of butter is 4oz but what weight is half a cup of crisco?

Al

 

[kevin313]

YUM!! Great recipe - thanks for sharing!

 

[hunter]

@vacbear58

The weight is 100g.

I weighed some just the other day to make American biscuits - scones without the sugar.

I had thought it would weigh 120g, but then remembered that its density is somewhat less than water, as it floats, so it makes sense.

 

[bwoods]

Kevin,

Is Zest ground up lemon peel? (as you can see I am not a cook)? So I assume I grind up the 5 or 6 lemon peels in a blender or food processor and mix them in with the other ingredients?

I can't wait to try these.

Barry

 

[vintagekitchen]

Zest

Zest is just the yellow part of the peel. If you use the white part, it makes everything taste horribly bitter.

I use the fine side of the grater, and just grate the whole lemons across it before juicing them. You get a nice little pile of fluffy yellow zest, and all the bitter white stuff stays on the lemon to give you something to hold onto while juicing them.

PS- The reason for using zest in things is while it doesnt have the acidic tanginess of the juice, it has much more lemon flavor. Zest is full of lemon oil, (used to flavor candies, and make things like polish or body spray smell nice), and the oil is a major carrier of flavor. By combining it with the juice, you get maximum flavor.

A good trick is to always zest any lemon you are going to juice, as well as any oranges. Then you can either freeze the zest, or dry it on a paper towel. Great for adding to baked goods like cakes muffins, cookies, scones, anything you want to give a nice citrus flavor too. Bonus is, its free, you were going to throw it out.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Another use for the peels...

In winter I keep a lot of citrus fruit around for snacking and cooking. I take a vegetable peeler, and peel them with it, (any citrus fruit works for this, lemons, grapefruit, oranges, etc). You get nice big strips of the zest, which you can make into candy.

Mix equal parts sugar and water in a pan, (how much you use depends on how much peel you have), bring to a boil, drop in the strips of peel (only one variety of peel per pan, so the flavors dont all blend together), reduce heat, and simmer slowly until peels are translucent. Remove strips of peel with a fork, and toss in granulated sugar to coat. Leave out on a platter to dry a few hours. Its like the grown up version of orange slice candies. Each variety of peel will be a different color and flavor, (orange, lemon, grapefruit), they look very gourmet, and a small tin or basket of them as a gift always makes people ooh and ahh.

Oh, and that pot of wonderful smelling delicious looking syrup? Add a healthy splash of corn syrup to keep it from crystalizing, pop the candy thermometer in it, and boil until the hard crack stage. Pour onto a buttered pan, let cool, and then break it like a peice of glass. Best citrus hard candy ever.

 

[maytagbear]

Looks good, Kevin-!

My approach for citrus zest is to use a very sharp OXO brand peeler, peel off just the colored part, as Kevin said, and then process the zest with the white sugar in the processor, fitted with the Steel Knife- "s" blade. That makes sure all the flavor of the zest....lemon, orange, lime, grapefruit....is in the dish, and avoids the small but real irritant of shreds of zest between the teeth, an unpleasant experience.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[vacbear58]

I would endorse all that has been written above

But rather than a grater I use a zester which produces strips - these can be as long or short as you wish. Its just my preference, I used to find a lot of the zest got left behind on the grater.

I must say I have never thought of using zest from grapefruit, must give that a try

@ Hunter - Thank you for the weight - I am going to give these a try this weekend.

Al

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