Whole lemon bars
Don't peel the lemon. Lemon bars with one whole lemon, peel and all, blended into the filling over a shortbread crust.
Why it works: Blending the whole lemon, peel and all, puts its zest and juice in the filling at once.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140 g) flour (crust)
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar (crust)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (crust)
- 8 tablespoons (115 g) unsalted butter, melted (crust)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (crust)
- 1 (about 175 g) lemon, organic or unsprayed, seeded and cut in chunks, peel on
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar (filling; ⅔ cup / 130 g for Meyer lemons)
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) fresh lemon juice
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt (filling)
- 3 tablespoons (45 g) unsalted butter, melted (filling)
- Optional: powdered sugar to serve
Method
- Heat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and butter it.
- Stir the flour, ¼ cup sugar, ¼ tsp salt, 8 Tbsp melted butter and vanilla until smooth. Press it evenly into the pan.
- Bake the crust 25 minutes, until deep golden.
- Meanwhile, halve the lemon, pick out the seeds and cut it in chunks. Blend with 1 cup sugar and the lemon juice until the lemon is completely broken up. Add the eggs, cornstarch, ¼ tsp salt and 3 Tbsp melted butter and blend until almost smooth.
- Turn the oven down to 300°F / 150°C. Pour the filling over the hot crust and bake 25 minutes, just until it stops jiggling and is barely set.
- Cool completely, lift out by the foil and cut into squares. Dust with powdered sugar to serve.
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June's tip: Use an organic or unsprayed lemon, since the peel goes in, and pull the bars when the filling barely stops jiggling.
Good to know: Use an organic or unsprayed lemon, since you eat the peel.
Storage: Airtight at room temperature up to 3 days, or freeze up to 1 month (source).
Adapted from Whole Lemon Bars, davidlebovitz.com. Amounts, temperatures and times follow the source; the steps are in our own words, and metric and °C conversions are ours. We check every amount against the source line by line. How we make our recipes.
