Recipe: Lemon Bars

I was excited today to receive a lemon fresh from a local tree, but I only got one so wasn't sure what to make at first. A family favorite is lemon bars so I decided to make a quick batch.  Plus it's a great summertime dessert.  Lemon bars bring back happy childhood memories. One of my sister doesn't like chocolate.  Can you believe that? To me chocolate is a basic food group but not for my oldest sister and I remember her loving lemon bars. 

This is adapted from an older kids recipe booklet published by Gold Medal Flour that I received from a friend. This is not the recipe my family used when I was little but I like this recipe because I was able to adapt it to have less sugar (than the original) and it still tastes good.

Lemon Bars

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

Crust:

1 cup of flour

10 tablespoons softened butter

1/3 cup of powdered sugar

Filling

3 teaspoons of lemon zest

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of granulated sugar

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together flour, softened butter and powdered sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 8x8 baking dish and gently press up the sides slightly as well.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Mix together (with handheld or stand mixer) filling ingredients until light and frothy. A little tip I mixed some of the sugar with the zest before combining with the rest of the ingredients.  Poor over the hot crust and return to oven for 18-20 minutes until the top is evenly golden and can be gently touched. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and then dust with powdered sugar.