Lemon Bars -- best recipe

[Joni]

Since we have done curd, etc. how about Lemon Bars? Has anyone tried Sherry Yard's recipe??

[Gifted Gourmet]

I have made lemon bars according to Sara Moulton's recipe but would love to have the Sherry Yard recipe as well .. if you would share it ... please?

[ruthcooks]

To make even an ordinary* lemon bar special, make this change: instead of the usual powdered sugar sifted over the top, make a thin glaze of powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice and a little melted butter. Drizzle over the top while warm. You may have to refrigerate for a while to get the glaze to set.

The icing intensifies the lemon flavor greatly. They have what my mom calls "whang".

*By ordinary, what I mean is with baked-on lemon filling, not the type you make with lemon curd and a true shortbread cookie base.

[Joni]

I will bring in the cookbook and post it. Her base dough is made with all powdered sugar. I like the base dough in CI -- it has some cornstarch in it which makes the crust more tender. Perhaps the powdered sugar dough does the same.

[Wendy DeBord]

This is my favorite lemon bar recipe to date. I got it somewhere else and they credit the recipe to Chef Laurann Claridge, columnist of the Houston Chronicle.

Crust:

8 oz. butter

1/2 c. xxx sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 c. flour

combine press into the bottom of a 9"pan, prebake until golden in 350F, while hot add the filling and continue baking until set.

Filling:

1/3 c. flour

4 eggs

17 tbsp. sugar

2/3 c. lemon juice

zest of 3 lemons

I make this in full sheet pans. For that I multiple the crust by 3 and the filling by 7. I sprinkle xxx sugar over the top before serving.

[Mayhaw Man]

Ihave to wait until I get home to post the recipe, but for those of you with The Cotton Country Collection (a really great cookbook), look for Lemon Loves. This is a shortbread style square with a lemon topping much like ruthcooks describes. You might notice the name on the recipe. Yes, that is my mom . Those things are really good. I will put the recipe in late this afternoon.

[alacarte]

Lemon bars can drive you out of your gourd if you let them. I developed a lemon bars recipe for an article I was working on recently, and it took several tries before I got what I was after. If I posted this in the Lemon Curd thread already, please forgive me.

For the base of the lemon bars, I wanted to use a basic butter-cookie recipe, but with a bit more butter than usually is called for (guess which ingredient I was trying to showcase? ) So I had to keep an eye on the oven -- it got a little greasy in the middle, so I re-did the cookie base a couple of times before I got the proportions right and then the oven time right. Not all lemon bars have a cookie base, though.

So...I made a batch with the cookie base, mixed up a lemon topping, poured it into the base, and refrigerated. The lemon mixture soaked into the cookie base, didn't solidfy properly, and I ended up with a goopy pudding-like mess. Strike one.

Then, I made a new cookie base, and let it cool while I made a lemon curd by cooking it on top of the stove. I spooned the lemon curd into the base, but it wouldn't adhere properly -- I would cut a cookie square and the lemon curd would plop right off the cookie onto the plate! Strike two.

So...I tried the same thing again, but cooked the lemon curd at the same time the crust was finishing its baking time. I spooned the lemon curd into the still-hot crust, and then let it set. Success!

I never would have guessed that technique would be so important if I hadn't gone through this process of experimentation myself.

[foodie3]

i like alice medrich's recipe (from her cookie book) best - shortbread crust and a tangy filling. they are also good next day refrigerated.

[dexygus]

i like alice medrich's recipe (from her cookie book) best - shortbread crust and a tangy filling.

i'll concur with foodie3. these are fabulous, and the crust is so buttery and easy to make.

[Joni]

is the alice medrich recipe the one with cornmeal in the crust?

[skyflyer3]

I third the alice medrich recipe. It's good, fast and dang easy. It's also easy to modify - I do the apricot lemon variation with the toasted almond crust. The apricot preserves really mellow the tang, and the almond crust makes it all pop.

[Joni]

This is the Alice Medrich recipe I pulled from Food TV....I think you all might be thinking of another one perhaps?3

/4 cup sifted all purpose flour (3 ounces)

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

Pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar, divided

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon nonfat yogurt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 egg white

1/2 cup strained fresh lemon juice

Grated zest of 1 large lemon

1/4 cup all purpose flour

Powdered sugar from dusting

Position rack in lower third of oven and Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 by 9 inch pan lightly with vegetable oil spray.

Make the crust: Stir the 3/4 cup of flour, the corneal, salt and baking soda together with a whisk to combine. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add 1/3 cup of the sugar and beat at high speed for about one minute or until mixture loses its crumbly texture and begins to form a mass. Beat in the egg yolk, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed just until combined. Scrape the bowl and beater. Knead the mixture briefly with your hands to mix thoroughly.

Press the dough evenly into the pan and prick all over with a skewer or fork. If pan is light weight, place on baking sheet. Bake until brown on top, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Make the topping: Whisk eggs and the egg white with the remaining sugar until combined. Whisk in the lemon juice and zest. Whisk in the 1/4 cup of flour. When crust is brown, turn oven temperature down to 300 degrees. Pour topping over hot crust and bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until topping barely jiggles in the center when you shake the pan gently back and forth. Cool on a rack. Chill before cutting into squares.

[McDuff]

This is my favorite lemon bar recipe to date. I got it somewhere else and they credit the recipe to Chef Laurann Claridge, columnist of the Houston Chronicle.

Is this freezeable? I'm not liking the one I make at work anymore. It's a #10 can of sweetened condensed milk, only a cup of juice, some butter and sugar. Glazed with powdered sugar and lemon juice. Gooey and sweet. I'm looking for tart and perky.

[Rachel Perlow]

I think this link to Shaker Lemon Bars on marthastewart.com is to the recipe I used the last time I made lemon bars. They were really good, and I like how you just use a food processor to grind the entire lemon (except for the seeds) rather than having to individually zest and juice the lemons.

[Wendy DeBord]

Yes McDuff, I freeze it.

[McDuff]

Yes McDuff, I freeze it.

I made the base recipe today and found that, while lemony and tasty, they were a bit rubbery. Did I perhaps overbake them? I actually did forget them, but not to the point where they were more than a mottled brown on the top. My big boss called my boss today and asked if there was a way I could spend a day a week doing R & D. Wouldn't that be nice? We settled on my redoing the formula book we all use so that it's actually useful, and making up a 5 day program to train someone to turn out the stuff that's in it.

Edited August 20, 2004 by McDuff (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

they were a bit rubbery. Did I perhaps overbake them?

I haven't baked these in months.......but I don't recall them being rubbery.........I think you hit the nail on the head, you probably over baked abit.

[McDuff]

they were a bit rubbery. Did I perhaps overbake them?

I haven't baked these in months.......but I don't recall them being rubbery.........I think you hit the nail on the head, you probably over baked abit.

Think a little butter might tenderize them? A couple of TB per recipe, possibly a cup per sheet pan, and can one use frozen lemon juice.

[TrishCT]

I think this link to Shaker Lemon Bars on marthastewart.com is to the recipe I used the last time I made lemon bars. They were really good, and I like how you just use a food processor to grind the entire lemon (except for the seeds) rather than having to individually zest and juice the lemons.

I like the sound of this one, thanks Rachel. I'm making them this weekend and will post how they come out.

[alacarte]

yum. If you have a particularly tart lemon bar, you can gild the lily by drizzling melted chocolate across the top in stripes. I melt a square or two of bakers' chocolate in the microwave (inside a small ziploc baggie -- then I snip off the end to make a pastry bag).

[Rachel Perlow]

I think this link to Shaker Lemon Bars on marthastewart.com is to the recipe I used the last time I made lemon bars. They were really good, and I like how you just use a food processor to grind the entire lemon (except for the seeds) rather than having to individually zest and juice the lemons.

I like the sound of this one, thanks Rachel. I'm making them this weekend and will post how they come out.

Remember you have to start them lemon's the day before. The slices need to sit with the sugar overnight.

[TrishCT]

I made the Shaker Lemon Bars today. (Started the lemons and sugar last night in a ziploc bag.) They came out very good. Very lemony. I was making them primarily as a thank you gift for a friend, and she really liked them. My family enjoyed the leftovers.

This recipe is different from traditional lemon bar recipes because it contains whole lemons, pith and all. They have a lot more little bits in the filling. Since they are so rich I cut them into small squares.

A good recipe for someone who loves lemon. Thanks again, Rachel.

[Fat Guy]

This is my mother's recipe for lemon squares, honed over many years making thousands of lemon squares. It's very simple, like Wendy's recipe but with a few different minor choices made on the specifics. It's very elegant and produces a more archetypal end product than many more complex and professional-type recipes.

+++

CRUST

- 2 cups flour

- 2 sticks butter

- 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Melt butter and add sugar and flour. Cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F in a greased 15-1/2" x 10-1/2" x 1" jelly roll pan.

TOPPING

- 4 extra large eggs

- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 1 tbsp grated lemon rind

- Pinch of salt

Mix together and pour over crust. Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes. Cool and sprinkle a very thin layer of powdered sugar over top.

+++

I'm not exactly sure what the baking powder does -- I'm accustomed to seeing baking powder coupled with flour, and there's no flour in this topping -- but my mother says it makes the topping "frothy."

[Suzanne F]

Here's what the baking powder does: the bicarbonate of soda (alkaline)component reacts with the acid of the lemon juice to froth as soon as they're mixed, and the other components (acids) work to leaven the mixture when exposed to heat, and keep the structure from collapsing. So it's not a reaction to flour, but to the other acids and alkali in the batter that the baking powder effects.

PS: I never met a lemon bar I didn't like, except for those that skimp on the lemon juice in the topping. Pucker up!

[Rachel Perlow]

I made the Shaker Lemon Bars today....They came out very good. Very lemony....This recipe is different from traditional lemon bar recipes because it contains whole lemons, pith and all. They have a lot more little bits in the filling....A good recipe for someone who loves lemon. Thanks again, Rachel.

I'm glad you and your friend enjoyed them. I just reread the recipe, and I'd grind the lemon a little finer than 1/4-1/2 inch, like 1/4" on the outside, but I just liked the idea of using the whole lemon. The pith adds a tinge of bitterness that rounds out the sweet and sour aspect.