11.30.16
Rain, rain, go away. Seriously rain, GET OUT OF HERE! Normally I love the rain. I love staying in and baking, or watching a movie, catching up on life, finally doing those little errands around the house you keep putting off. However, a super gloomy day or days in this case, gives you almost no lighting for pictures. And a downpour makes it impossible to take fun outfit pictures that go with any of your upcoming recipes! For shame. I had a great dress I wanted to feature with these lemon bars. But with crazy windy, cold, and now rainy days recently, it didn’t happen. But I’ve been wanting to talk about these lemon bars for so long I can’t hold off anymore. And what better way to brighten up these cloudy past few days than these sunny and tart and slightly gooey lemon bars?
I love lemon bars, I love lemon things. If I had the time, I’d make them once a week, hands down. My favorite recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen, it’s been my go-to for a while. So I decided to play with that recipe a bit, change it up, and see what came out. I got some lemon bars that are a little less firm than others I’ve made. I personally love them. Considering I just made gooey cake for Thanksgiving, it should be no surprise I’m into the texture of these lemon bars. So as I throw all these seasonal treats your way every week, enjoy this bright little sunshine break for what may be one of your favorite new desserts.
Whenever you can, use Meyer lemons when you bake! The flavor is less harsh, it’s more of a rich lemon flavor than an acidic attack in your mouth! I just want to stop everything and make these right now. This recipe makes a ton, and yet I don’t want to share these with anyone.
Every time you bite into them, heaven. Maybe these are my new happy place? Like if life gets hard and I’m having a moment, I’ll imagine diving into a sweet sweet lemon bar and it’ll all be ok.
Stay dry my northerners, I’m heading to my husband’s show at Brooklyn Bazaar tonight in Greenpoint! I’ll be the girl in the grey rain boots swooning over the guy at the front of the stage.
Gooey Lemon Bars
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- pinch of salt
For the Filling
- 1 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup lemon zest
- 2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup flour
- 5 eggs
- pinch of salt
- confections sugar for sprinkling on top, if desired
Instructions
For the Crust
- Grease a 9×13 pan and preheat oven to 350
- In the bowl of a stand up mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add in flour and salt until just combined
- Once dough comes together, take dough and pat down in baking dish to cover the bottom, making sure to pat about 1/2″-1″ up the sides and corners so filling doesn’t escape under the crust, chill for about 30 minutes
- Bake the crust for 17-20 minutes until just starting to brown
- Allow crust to cool while you make filling, keep oven on
For the Filling
- In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the filling, whisking furiously to fully combine
- Pour filling over crust and carefully place in oven, baking for about 30 minutes, filling should be set and not jiggly when removed, but don’t allow to over bake
- Allow to cool before cutting, it will set even more as it cools
- Sprinkle confectioners sugar over top if desired
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
