Lemon Bars with a Pecan Shortbread Crust
Nearly two weeks ago, and with the weather picking up, my friend mentioned to me that she was making gluten-free lemon bars for a party. Yes, please. Since then, lemon bars have been stuck in my head, and with the stockpile of 10 lemons sitting in the fruit bowl, I was locked and loaded. Unfortunately, I've only ever eaten a lemon bar once before in my life (from a supermarket somewhere), so I wasn't quite sure what I wanted out of it. Did I want a crumbly crust or a crust that held together better, perhaps with some egg? Did I like a thick layer of lemon on top or a thin layer? Was the texture of the lemon topping more like custard or jam? All these questions, and who really knew the answers? Certainly not me.
So I just went with it and experimented. It turned out really well! These lemon bars are the perfect balance of sweet to sour, in my opinion, and have a good crust to lemon-filling ratio. Still, I'd like to point out that I'm one of those people that eats Greek yogurt plain and drinks unsweetened cranberry juice willingly. I'm going to play it safe and say that if you're someone who doesn't often partake of the sour flavor, this might be very lemony to you. One option to cut the tartness is to add a couple of TB of milk to the lemon custard before baking, to make it creamier. Completely optional though. I like this version as is, without the milk. I also prefer mine without powdered sugar on top, which is also something sweet that will also probably cut the tartness. Although I acknowledge the aesthetic benefits of placing powdered sugar on top of a lemon bar, I'd much rather have a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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Lemon Bars with a Pecan Shortcrust
9 large bars, 16 small bars
crust
1/2 C roasted pecans
1 C flour
2 TB cornstarch
8 TB cold unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 C granulated sugar
lemon topping
2 large eggs
1/2 to 3/4 C granulated sugar
3 TB flour
1/2 C freshly squeezed lemon juice, about 3 lemons
2 teaspoons lemon zest
powdered sugar (to decorate)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x9 baking pan with non-stick parchment paper, or grease it very well. In a food processor, pulse together the pecans, flour, cornstarch, salt, ground cardamom, and granulated sugar until all of it forms a smooth meal. Add the unsalted butter to the food processor in small chunks, continually pulsing, until the butter is cut into the dry mixture rather evenly and forms small little beads. Remember, it is much easier to do this with cold butter. Pour this mixture from the food processor into your baking pan, and with a buttered spatula or a hand covered in plastic wrap, press the mixture firmly down into the pan until evenly spread and tightly packed. Once your crust is packed down, place into the refrigerator for 10 minutes, to help the butter set back up. After set, bake for 25 minutes, until browned. Remove from the oven.
Using a whisk, first beat together the granulated sugar, flour and eggs, and then mix in the lemon juice and zest. While the crust is still warm, pour this lemon mixture over the crust and shake the pan to make sure it flows evenly across the top. Place back into the oven and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until lemon topping is set and no longer jiggly. Remove and let cool. If you cut into it now, while still warm, the crust with be crumbly and the lemon topping especially sticky. As is such, place the bars, uncut, in the refrigerator overnight to help them firm up; they will be super easy to cut the next day.