Whenever I visit my grandparents, the first thing that greets me is a pretty plate piled high with an assortment of cookies. My childhood is filled with memories of sitting on a beach towel, skin sun-warmed and hair salty from the ocean, savoring the sweet-and-tart lemon bars my grandmother would pack for us for lunch. In the spring, when I am not at my grandparents’ house, but when the Meyer lemons on my tree are perfectly ripe, I reach for them to make these lemon bars. They have a crisp, buttery shortbread base topped with gooey lemon curd, leaving the kitchen smelling bright and fresh.
Shortbread base
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups sifted flour
- ½ cup confectioners sugar
Lemon filling
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 4 tablespoons flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Cream butter
- Beat in powdered sugar
- Mix in flour one cup at a time, careful not to overmix
- Press into a 9×13” pan lined with parchment
- Bake 15 minutes at 350℉
- Beat eggs, sugar, lemon juice, & rind
- Mix in flour, salt, and baking powder right before pouring it on top of the hot crust
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 350℉, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean
- Cool & cut into bars
