Lemon Bars

Fall is almost upon us, but that doesn’t mean we have to leave all our summer treasures behind. One such treasure is lemon bars! This is tangy goodness on top of a buttery crust. This all that is good in the world. This is highly addictive. You have been warned.

Consider this my farewell to summer. If I were you, I’d make these bad boys, crank up the heat and lounge in your bikini just for old time’s sake.

And, lemons are good for you… They are cleansing and alkanzing, right? Plus it’s fruit. Fruit can’t be bad. Shhh… Just go with it. It’ll be worth it. I promise.

Lemon Bars for the Win

For the Crust

• 1 ¼ cups flour (spooned and leveled)
• ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• ⅓  cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt

For the filling

• 4 eggs
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• ¼  cup all-purpose flour
• ⅔  cup lemon juice (About 4 juiced lemons)
• 1 lemon zested

I keep wheat berries on hand and mill flour as needed in my VitaMix. If that’s your thing too, 1 cup of wheat berries will yield the 1 ½ cups of flour you need for this recipe.

1. Put all the dry ingredients for your crust in a food processor. Process for a few seconds to get the sugar, salt and flour mixed up. Add the small pieces of butter and process until moist crumbs form (this may take up to 1 minute).
2. Sprinkle mixture into a prepared pan (either line the pan or use cooking spray). Press the dough firmly into the pan.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Freeze crust until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Check after about 10 minutes if your crust starts to puff up prick it with a fork to let the air out.
   Note: if you are using a ceramic or glass pan, DO NOT put the pan into the oven straight from the freezer. Let the pan come to room temperature before putting it into the oven. Instead preheat your oven after you take it out of the freezer instead of before.
5. In bowl, whisk together 1 ½ cups sugar and ¼ cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice.
6. Pour the filling onto the warm crust (not hot but still warm) and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.
7. Bake for about 18-20 minutes until the filling is slightly firm.
8. Let it cool to room temperature. The bars will firm up as they cool.
9. Optional but awesome: Sprinkle with powdered sugar
10. Cut those babies into bars, Instagram your greatness and enjoy!

My go-to crust recipe comes via Martha Stewart. You can’t go wrong with Martha. I use this crust for everything. I’ve even made it for a vegan friend using vegan butter and it’s still pretty tasty. The filling is adapted from this recipe. I made it a bit more lemon-y because I’m crazy like that.

 What’s your favorite summer dessert? Let us know in the comments!

Co-founder | Trinidad Pena Trinidad Pena is a blogger, foodie, and design superhero bent on helping others kick-ass online, world domination and convincing the world that wine belongs in the fruit food group since it’s made from grapes.