Lemon Bars (again?!)

I'm stuck going to jury duty tomorrow and tried to feel good about it, thinking I'd haul my laptop along and catch up on some very past due blogs while I sat in the waiting room for hours. Then I got to thinking about not having internet. No problem! I can write my blog in Word and even get my pictures ready without the internet. Then it occured to me that not all the pictures are uploaded off of my camera. No problem! I can upload them before bed. THEN I realized that 3 of the recipes I need to blog about are not on the internet, which would mean unless I transcribed them tonight I'd have to lug around cookbooks as well. Well, to that I said "No Way Jose!". Instead, I am writing one blog tonight, and catching up on some magazine reading tomorrow while I try to kill time. (Last time I had jury duty I fell asleep in the waiting room. I was younger, and probably tired after a night of partying till the cows came home.) Ah, life.

Yes, this is my third time making lemon bars recently, and each time I've used a different recipe. This time I tried out my Better Homes and Gardens "new baking book" for the first time. The overall flavor of the bars is good, but the crust is WAY too crumbly for my liking. Several people enjoyed them on Easter though, especially my G-ma.


Lemon Bars Deluxe


1 Cup butter
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
4 beaten eggs
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup lemon juice
¼ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder

Preaheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. (Notice the return of Marge's mixer? Yay! I was very excited to use this one again, even if it is a bit old fashioned. I was on a baking spree and my Kitchen Aid bowl was in the refrigerator, full of dough for a batch of cookies.)

Beat in 2 cups flour. Mixture will become crumbly.

It looks a little bit like popcorn here!

Press mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 13x9x2-inch pan. The other lemon square recipes have called for a smaller, square pan. You get more with this one! I'm wondering if adding a tiny bit more butter or even a tsp or two of milk would help make this crust just a bit less dry. Next time, I'll give one of those a try and see if it helps.

*Note: Everytime I've made lemon bars the crust always seems crumbly until  you press it into the pan. It does NOT mean it will end up dry in the end. Trust the recipe unless something or someone has proven that a substituion or tweak is in order.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until it is lightly browned.

While the crust cooks, beat together eggs, granulated sugar, and lemon juice. Combine the flour and baking powder.

Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture.

Add lemon zest...

By now your crust should be about done. Take it out of the oven when ready, and pour mixture over crust.

Almost...

...ready!

Bake at 350 for 25 more minutes, or until edges are lighly browned. Cool in pan or on a wire rack.

As you can see, the crust was just too crumbly, but they were still delish.

Store in the refrigerator, covered.

Enjoy!