For the Crust:
- 1 cup (130g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (60g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon (1g) kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon (4g) lemon zest
- 1 stick (115g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch dice
For the Custard:
- 3 large eggs, cold
- 1/2 cup (135g) egg yolks, from about 8 large eggs
- 1 1/3 cups (270g) granulated sugar
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1 packed tablespoon (8g) lemon zest
- 1 1/3 cups (310g) lemon juice, from about 8 large lemons
For the Crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position, preheat oven to 350°F, and line an 8x8x2-inch anodized-aluminum baking pan with a piece of parchment paper long enough to overhang the pan's edges. Combine flour, powdered sugar, salt, lemon zest, and butter in the bowl of a food processor; pulse to form a dry but pebbly meal, about twelve 1-second pulses. Scatter into the prepared baking pan, press into an even layer, and bake until pale gold and firm, about 30 minutes. Use hot or set aside until needed, up to 48 hours at room temperature if tightly covered.
For the Custard: Combine whole eggs, yolks, sugar, salt, and lemon zest in a 3-quart stainless steel saucepan, then whisk in lemon juice. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly but not vigorously, until warm to the touch (100°F), about 3 minutes. Increase heat to medium-low and continue cooking and stirring until thick and steaming-hot (custard should register 170°F on an instant-read thermometer, and surface bubbles should disappear), about 8 minutes. Immediately strain† onto the prepared crust, smooth into an even layer, and cover with aluminum foil. Bake until smooth and firm, about 10 minutes. Remove foil and cool to room temperature, then re-cover and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 1 hour.
† if you forget to strain, it's ok
To Serve: Loosen chilled custard from sides of pan with a bench or butter knife, then carefully tug loose and lift using overhanging parchment and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 two-inch squares, rinsing the knife clean between each slice. Serve plain, lightly dusted with powdered sugar, or topped with Lemon Chantilly and Crispy Citrus-Candied Pistachios. Store up to 1 week in an airtight container.
From https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/03/sunny-lemon-bars-recipe.html, and they turned out great
I found the recipe from https://www.thekitchn.com/lemon-bar-recipe-reviews-23012409, and was going to either try this one or the Martha Stewart version (which is much easier). But, we had a bunch of meyer lemons, which are sweeter than normal lemons, so I wanted to decrease the sugar in the recipe to account for that. There is no way to do that for Martha's recipe, because it uses sweetened condensed milk.
I used the leftover rinds to make lemon syrup
Others
I made these bars a while back, and they were ok
- the filling was too sweet
- the crust came out soggy - I baked for the indicated time, but it wasn't getting golden, and I didn't want to go too long and risk burning it after adding the filling - probably better to overbake than underbake this, but would have been nice to have some guidance around that in the recipe itself or somewhere in all the text before it
- maybe that's why she recommends lining with alu foil - I used parchment instead, because I didn't want to deal with the crust sticking to foil
- dunno whe she didn't include weights for the dry ingredients - measuring 1 3/4 cups and 2/3 cup flour gets 4 measuring cups dirty ¯\_(ツ)_/¯