Years ago, before my baking life, I was invited to a potluck at my favorite professor’s house. Wanting to impress I began by rifling through my mother’s cookbooks. I came across a church cookbook from Healton Okla., the town where my grandparents, aunts and cousins lived. Many still live in that little town.
In that recipe collection was a gem for Lemon Bars. Who knew that moment would change my path? The bars were such a hit that I made them for just about every potlucky event I was invited to. Later, I twisted the recipe to suit my tastes and added different elements to make the bars unique.
A few years later, while working at a fancy department store in San Francisco, a customer tasted my lemon bars at a Christmas party. I was hired. This gentleman hired me to bake him a batch of the bars each week, and my interest in baking professionally was planted.
So you can now see why Lemon Bars are so dear to me. I believe they are the favorite of my youngest sister Dawn, and son Dexter, so they always bring sweet memories to me when our home is filled with the aroma of baking lemon bars.
Lemon bars are a fun treat to make that are simple and a pleasure to make with kids. Yes, these are the bars that I made at my little shop, so the flavor may be familiar to many Food For Thought readers. I certainly hope that you make these bars to share with friends and family!
[print]Andrea’s Lemon Bars
For Lemon Bar Crust:
1 pound unsalted butter
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon zest
Prepare baking pan by lightly buttering it. I use a 8-by-13 Pyrex dish.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
To make the crust, combine all the ingredients into the bowl of your standing mixer. Combine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs and begins to hold together. Remove dough from mixer and spread with your hands evenly into pan. Press the crust down and along sides of pan. Bake the crust for about 15-18 minutes or until LIGHTLY golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before adding lemon filling.
For Lemon Bar filling
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Zest of 2 lemons
Powdered sugar to dust on cooled bars
Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. To prepare the lemon bar filling, begin with a medium-sized bowl. Whisk together eggs and granulated sugar until combined well. Stir in the lemon juice and flour. Whisk until everything looks incorporated and smooth. Pour the lemon mixture over cooled shortbread.
Bake your delights in the middle of oven until set, about 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan and cut into bars. I like mine in triangles. Lemon bars will keep, covered and chilled, 3 days. Sift powdered sugar over bars before serving.
Enjoy!!
Andrea Charroin was a trained baker and pastry chef in San Francisco before she and her family moved to Redding nine years ago. After falling in love with Redding’s downtown, Andrea and husband Westley opened a little pastry shop, Rene-Joule Patisserie, across from the Cascade Theatre. For the three years Rene-Joule was in business, it was renowned for making everything from scratch, using the best ingredients and keeping with a seasonal menu. To this day, Andrea is asked about her Marathon Bars, Orange Twists and sourdough bread.
Copyright 2008 Andrea R. Charroin. Visit my blog at bakerslove.typepad.com.
