In the Kitchen: Lemon Bars

This classic dessert is always a crowd favorite and surprisingly easy to make from scratch. The refreshing blend of sweet and tart makes it a perfect treat for the warm Spring days ahead. Chances are you have most of the ingredients in your cupboards, so pick up a lemon and get to it! You'll find a printable recipe card at the end of the post.

Ingredients
Crust:
2 cups flour
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter

Filling:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp finely grated lemon peel
3/4 cup juice of lemon
1/4 cup half & half, light cream or milk
powdered sugar for garnish

Heat oven to 350°. In a large bowl mix flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt. Cut in butter using a pastry blender until it looks like coarse crumbs.



Grease a 13x9 baking dish (or what I do for easier removal when making any kind of bars is line the pan with foil, then grease the foil - I use Pam with flour spray, works awesome!)

Press the dough mixture firmly into the pan and bake 18 minutes (don’t overcook).



For the filling, you'll need grated lemon peel. Using a fine grater, grate just the yellow skin of the lemon until you start to see the white rind inside. You'll grate most of the skin of a palm sized lemon to get one teaspoon.



In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs, mix in sugar, flour, cream, lemon peel and lemon juice (I squeeze what I can out of the lemon after grating the peel then use bottled juice for the rest).



Pour filling over hot crust and bake 15-18 minutes until center is set. It won’t look much different but will turn from a liquid to solid consistency.

Cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and chill in the fridge until cold, sift powdered sugar on top before serving. Enjoy!

You can store leftovers covered in the fridge but the powdered sugar will dissolve, so you may want to cut smaller portions to sift with sugar and serve if you don't expect the entire pan to disappear in one sitting. (fat chance, right? :)

> Click here for a printable recipe card

And find more easy and delicious recipes here.

p.s. That beautiful plate is made by the talented Whitney Smith.