Line a 9x13 in. baking pan with parchment paper. The easiest way to do this is to rub some butter on the pan and place a sheet of parchment paper down. Then put some more butter on the parchment paper and place another sheet of parchment paper down perpendicular to the first sheet. This will line all the sides of the pan and not have lemon bars stuck to the side.
In a food processor with steel blade, combine 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour, 2/3 confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, and 3/4 tsp. salt. Pulse a few times to mix. Cut 3/4 cup unsalted butter into 1 inch pieces and add to processor bowl. Process until the flour forms a coarse meal texture (about 12 seconds). Pour the flour mixture into the pan and spread evenly. Using your hands, press down on the flour mixture and compact it evenly to produce a consistent thickness of about 1/4 in. If you like, you can press the mixture up the sides of the pan about 1/2 in., but I don't bother. Refrigerate the crust for thirty minutes to firm it up and then bake at 350°F until golden brown (about 20 minutes).
While the crust is baking, throw together the filling. We'll be using (from left to right) 2/3 cup lemon juice, 1/3 cup whole milk (do not substitute), 2 teaspoons lemon zest, 4 large eggs, 1-1/3 cups granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons all purpose flour, and 1/8 teaspoon salt.
Whisk together the eggs, sugar, salt, and flour. (Baking Illustrated doesn't integrate the salt at this point - they mix it in with the wet ingredients, but I find it convenient to whisk the salt in with the dry ingredients.)
Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest, and milk until well blended. Once the crust is done baking, stir the filling once again to make sure it is well blended. Pour filling onto the still hot crust.
Bake until filling is firm to the touch (about 20 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature on a rack. After the lemon bars have cooled, lift the bars out by grasping the free ends of parchment paper and place on a cutting board. Use a pizza wheel or knife, cut into bars. I prefer to cut smaller bars (32 of them) because the filling is quite rich and strong.
If desired, serve with confectioner's sugar liberally sifted over the bars.Seal uneaten bars in plastic wrap and consume within two days.
Lemon Bars (makes 32 bar cookies)
| 1-3/4 cup (245 g) all purpose flour | mix | process | line 9x13" pan | refrigerate for 30 min. | 350°F for 20 min. | 350°F for 20 min. | cool and cut |
| 2/3 cup (80 g) confectioner's sugar | |||||||
| 1/4 cup (30 g) cornstarch | |||||||
| 3/4 tsp. (4.5 g) salt | |||||||
| 3/4 cup (170 g) butter | |||||||
| 4 large (200 g) eggs | whisk | mix | |||||
| 1-1/3 cup (270 g) granulated sugar | |||||||
| 3 Tbs. (24 g) all purpose flour | |||||||
| 1/8 tsp. (0.8 g) salt | |||||||
| 2 tsp. (4 g) lemon zest | |||||||
| 2/3 cup (160 mL) lemon juice | |||||||
| 1/3 cup (80 mL) whole milk | |||||||
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Just snooped around your website per your invitation to do so.
You've highlighted some recipes I'm already eager to try. Thanks for that.
I have a FANTASTIC version of lemon bars that has whole cranberries added as a top layer. It's like eating sweet & sour condensed milk lemon heaven!
Email me at thisisnotablog@gmail.com if you're interested.
However a recipe may still be subject to copyright protections if it is:
"accompanied by a substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook."
For futher reference, check the US Copyright Office documentation at:
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html
In my layman's view of how intellectual property law works, I imagine that Michael can copyright one particular table (e.g. this one for lemon bars) or patent the system of displaying a recipe in tabular form.
Any actual IP attorneys care to set us straight?
Yes, that's on my things to think about how to do correctly and easily. Without changing how I post articles, I can't think of a simple solution to presenting U.S. and metric sizes. I don't want to burden myself with too much extra work when writing articles because I know that as soon as it stops being fun and becomes a chore, I'll stop writing.
Until I figure it out, use Google Search to perform conversions: "2/3 cup in mL" (sorry, we Americans use volumetric measurements)
But, only the description in the recipe can be copyrighted, not the actual recipe itself (i.e. the process itself).
Thus, if you can find a different way to describe the same idea (Mom's Lemon Bars) then you're likely fine. A narrative description of how you went about putting together lemon bars might be enough, as might reproducting the recipe in table form. But who really knows what a judge will decide without caselaw... but given the relatively low creative content of a recipe description and how closely the description is tied to the process itself, there's probably a lot of leeway in how much of the description of the process you can use without it being infringement.
Limoncello
Zest of 10 lemons
750 ml. 100-proof vodka
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Quickly wash the lemons in hot tap water to remove the thin coating of carnauba wax. Remove the zest (yellow part of the rind) from the lemons. Be careful to leave as much of the white pith behind as possible, as it will impart a bitter taste to the finished product. Place the zest in a quart jar that will accommodate a tight fitting lid. Pour the vodka over the zest, tighten the lid, and place in a cool dark place for 14-20 days.
After the allotted time, strain the vodka through a fine mesh sieve into another container. The zest should be a pale, washed-out, light yellow. Place the pallid peel in a pan, add the cup of water, then the cup of sugar and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar completely. Strain the resulting simple syrup through a fine mesh sieve into the reserved vodka. Stir. You will end up with slightly more than a quart of lemony goodness. Place the liquid in a suitable container. Limoncello benefits from a period of aging, during which the flavor mellows somewhat.
Yield: approximately one quart (2 servings)
Serve ice-cold directly from the freezer in little jelly jars from Hickory Farms. It is best to make a double batch, since your friends and relatives will probably drink most of what you make, even though when you first brought it out they thought “Oh Boy, here we go again! Another weird idea from the Wizard of Odd”. But you showed them as they smacked their lips and asked for seconds….
A Simple Solution to The Naked Lemon Dilemma
After making Limoncello, you will end up with at least 10 zestless lemons. There is nothing more pathetic than citrus fruits that have surrendered to apathy, so I suggest the following options after removing the juice from the lemons - either freeze the juice for future use or make homemade lemonade…
Classy Lemonade
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1.5 quarts cold water
Combine all ingredients and stir to thoroughly mix. Adjust sugar to taste. Serve over (this is the classy part) fresh-chipped hormone-free Canadian glacial lake ice in a chilled hand-blown lead-free glass with a swizzle stick made from organic free-range union harvested sugarcane. This is especially good topped with a shot of Limoncello.
For an image of the box, go to the bottom of this page:
http://www.sunkist.com/products/united_states.asp
Thanks for posting the recipe though. Now back to the kitchen to see now to improve it (in the direction of mimicking Sunkist)... :P
Maverick
I did try them. They are pretty good. Taste a bit fake to me, but that's just my taste. We may need to replace the fresh lemon juice with bottled or dehydrated. The shortbread in the sunkist also uses shortening instead of butter, which may make a difference. I felt the flavor of the shortbread was obviously not as buttery and the lemon filling was a bit sweeter than the Cook's Illustrated recipe.
For the base, I used the same mixture but with Earth Balance margarine for the butter. I did this with a hand mixer and it worked just as well, though it probably took a bit longer.
For the lemon bit, I used a vegweb recipe. The recipe is similar, but of lesser volume, so I doubled it.
Mix together:
* 6 eggs (EnerG Egg Replacer)
* 1 1/2 cup sugar
* lemon zest and juice of six small lemons
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 6 tablespoon flour
Try to incorporate the froth from the egg replacer as much as possible since otherwise it'll cook faster and form a skin on top.
Pour on top of the base and cook for 30-35 minutes (10-15 minutes longer than this recipe). The topping won't look solid since egg replacer is mostly starch; it will thicken as it cools.
The base of these bars is really crunchy and nice. Thanks Michael!
Not sure if they're available in the rest of Europe though.
Great site by the way!
You could use a stylesheet to get the content to display differently, or javascript to dynamically alter the content. Either way could allow the user to enter a preference.
I like your site, and have made Tiramisu using your recipe, which turned out wonderfully!
I have a question about lemon bars. When you stir lemon jouice and milk into the filling mixutre, doesn't the milk curdle? Is it OK if it does? Cann't wait to try your recipe, I love lemon bars.
It's okay if it does. The top layer is actually a type of lemon curd.
loved the recipe and the family loved it too....no need to wrap up leftovers because there were not any !
A note on lemon peel - I dont know about the US - but in europe its not safe to use the peel of conventionally farmed lemons or other citrus fruit. More then once DDT, Lindan and other dangerous pestizides have been found IN the peel....scrubbing the fruits wont work here.
So now for me its only organic citrus fruits, especially when I want to use the peel.
regards and again thank you for the recipe
Susanne
If I am not mistaken, it should be shortbread not shorbread.
Love the site. Thanks ^_^.
If I am not mistaken, it should be shortbread not shorbread.
Thanks for the catch - I've fixed it.
First pick and wash a few leaves of a citrus tree. Orange leaves work best, as the underside of the orange leaf has veins that stand out.
Melt some semisweet chocolate chips in the microwave so that the chips can be stirred together into a thick paste.
Smear the chocolate paste onto the underside of a leaf.
Refrigerate coated leaves for 5-10 minutes, then gently peel away leaf from chocolate.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Good with lemon bars, or fresh berries and whipped cream.
As an American living in Finland I don't get these as often as I would like ;) I found this site and just had to try them... better than the mixes I have received from home! Just great! However, how can I get a crispier top? I really like that on my mom's that she made :D
Two questions though:
1) When I make shortbread, I only use butter, salt and sugar (usually caster). What is the reason for using cornstarch/cornflour and confectioner's/icing sugar instead of caster or granulated? I couldn't really taste any difference but of course it's hard to differentiate with the lemony goo!
2) You say 'do not substitute' regarding the whole milk. Why? Why not semi-skimmed for instance, which is what I usually have in the fridge.
I can of course experiment, but I would appreciate any feedback and chemical analysis as to why!
A bit of chocolate drizzled onto the top of these lemon bars would be awesome, may have to try that! But frankly, they're sweet enough!
Many thanks for the recipe, and the website as a whole! :)
You can certainly use a pastry cutter or a couple knives to produce the same effect. The lumps should be a little smaller than pea sized.
I find it hilarious that a good portion of the comments relate to copyright -- THIS IS a cooking for engineer's web site. :) B)
Robert
My receipe for Spice Lemon requires to use all part of lemon skin which means white and yellow. Although I know white makes bitter taste, I have no choice. Can anyone give me suggestion to get rid of bitter taste any how?
I have made lemon bars from that site too and they came out pretty good, but I like how you relayed your recipe with the pictures and I think they will come out even better.
this will be the first time i'll ever attempt to bake..
i'm about to try tour recipe using an oven toaster instead. hehehe.
any tips you might suggest?
thanks!
2) I think the purpose of the flour is to bind the lemon curd and give the texture a more bar-like substance. When I change the flour proportion, I get different texture.
3) In my neighborhood, we have many lemon trees, but a high percentage are meyer lemons. I hate seeing my friend's lemons go to waste, so I'm collecting different lemon dishes. Meyers have a lot of taste, but a very different acid level (lower). In general, I need to up the wet lemon percentage, but with lemon bars I get wet bars. Any suggestions of meyer lemon lemon bars?
4) the best lemon bars, IMHO, have a crust on top. I think I get that by vigorously beating the eggs (Joy of Cooking specifically says "lightly beaten").
Your recipe cards are great. I would love if your descriptions included more "why" because, as an engineer, I always modify the recipe every time I make it. More "why" means I'm more likely to get a positive modification.
depends on what you call a "recipe"
actual real live courts - judges and dudes that count - have repeatedly ruled a list of ingredients & quantities cannot be copyrighted.
the descriptions of how to use the ingredients, make the dish, change our socks, whatever, can be copyrighted.
compilation can be copyrighted. a collection a many lists can be copyrighted as a work, but the individual lists & quantities remain uncopyrightable.
On March 13, 2008 at 12:14 AM, Trouble (guest) said...
Subject: Lemon
Hey all,
My receipe for Spice Lemon requires to use all part of lemon skin which means white and yellow. Although I know white makes bitter taste, I have no choice. Can anyone give me suggestion to get rid of bitter taste any how?
According to Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" (2nd ed, I believe) which I'm referring to from my own memory....
The bitter taste from the peel is a water soluble compound. This is why recipes for candied peel call for repeated simmering in fresh sugar syrup - not to increase the sugar content (you could use the old stuff for that) but to eliminate the bitter compound.
I don't know what "Lemon Spice" is exactly; why can't you omit the white? But you could try to soak the white pith in repeated washings of clean water to reduce the bitter compound.
I have a few questions about the recipe (I'm fairly new to baking) -
1) I'm assuming this is true, but just in case, can these bars be frozen easily?
2) If the recipe was being cut in half, would most of the ingredients (those with the largest portions), be simply cut in half?
3) Are there any substitutes you could do to this recipe to make it a bit healthier? For example, whole wheat flour, brown sugar...
Thanks!!
Erica
I have a few questions about the recipe (I'm fairly new to baking) -
1) I'm assuming this is true, but just in case, can these bars be frozen easily?
2) If the recipe was being cut in half, would most of the ingredients (those with the largest portions), be simply cut in half?
3) Are there any substitutes you could do to this recipe to make it a bit healthier? For example, whole wheat flour, brown sugar...
1. The bars can be frozen, but texture may be different when thawed.
2. You should be able to cut everything in half, then stick it in an 8x8 pan (which will make slightly thicker lemon bars). Baking time will probably not need to be altered - best to check doneness regularly to make sure.
3. You can make substitutes, but it won't be this recipe anymore. If you want to make this recipe healthier, just eat smaller portions and share it with more people. Free lemon bars is very conducive to making friends.
Both recipes are from the same company (Cooks Illustrated), so please double check your original recipe. It could be the reason one reviewer said the shortbread was not as buttery as he/she anticipated or was used to.
I edit and test recipes, write them as well...so I notice these things easily.
What's really weird is that after this comment I went and double checked the recipe against The New Best Recipe and Baking Illustrated and the recipe I have posted doesn't match either book. Perhaps I got it from The Best Recipe (the book that preceded The New Best Recipe), but I no longer have a copy of that book.
Santos