Are you looking for a delicious and zesty treat to satisfy your sweet tooth? Look no further than Amy's Bread Zesty Lemon Bars. These delectable bars are made with a buttery shortbread crust, a tangy lemon filling, and a sweet glaze. The perfect balance of flavors and textures makes them a popular choice for dessert enthusiasts. With their bright citrusy taste and delightful crunch, these lemon bars are sure to be a hit at any gathering or special occasion. In this article, we will guide you through the process of making these delectable treats, providing you with a detailed recipe and helpful tips to ensure that your lemon bars turn out perfectly every time.
Here are our top 6 tried and tested recipes!
ZESTY LEMON BARS
This recipe, courtesy of Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree, can be found in "The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread."
Provided by Martha Stewart
Categories Food & Cooking Dessert & Treats Recipes Cookie Recipes
Yield Makes 20 bars
Number Of Ingredients 11
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center of oven. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
- To make crust: In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and salt; process to combine. Add butter to processor and process until mixture is pale yellow and resembles a coarse meal, about 10 seconds. If you don't have a food processor, whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and work into flour mixture using a pastry blender or your fingers.
- Pour crust mixture into prepared baking dish, pressing down with your fingers to create a 1/4-inch-thick layer along the bottom and 1/2-inch up the sides, pressing firmly at the edges to seal. Transfer pan to freezer and freeze for 30 minutes. Transfer to oven and bake, rotating pan once during baking, until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the topping: In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, and flour; stir in lemon juice, milk, and salt until well combined.
- Remove baking pan from oven. Stir topping and pour into warm crust. Return pan to oven and continue baking until topping is just set but not browned, about 20 minutes.
- Transfer baking pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into 20 squares. Serve immediately or wrap each bar tightly with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
LEMON MERINGUE BARS RECIPE BY TASTY
Here's what you need: all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, salt, unsalted butter, large eggs, egg yolk, granulated sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, all-purpose flour, egg white, salt, granulated sugar
Provided by Alix Traeger
Categories Desserts
Yield 9 servings
Number Of Ingredients 13
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 325˚F (170˚C). Grease and line a 9-inch (23 cm) square baking dish with parchment paper and place on a baking sheet.
- Make the crust: combine the flour, powdered sugar, salt, and butter in a medium bowl, and use your hands to mix until a crumbly dough forms.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared pan, and use your hands to press it against the bottom and about 1 inch (2 cm) up the sides. Poke the bottom all over with a fork.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until light golden brown.
- While the crust is baking, make the lemon filling: In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolk. Add the granulated sugar, lemon juice, zest, and a pinch of salt, and whisk to combine. Whisk in the flour until just combined.
- When the crust is done baking, remove it from the oven. Pour the lemon filling over the crust and carefully return it to the oven for 25 minutes, until the filling no longer jiggles and the center is mostly set.
- While the filling bakes, make the meringue: In a clean, dry medium bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat the egg white until stiff peaks form. Add about half of the sugar, whip for 30 seconds, then add the rest of the sugar and whip until combined. Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a large tip or zip-top bag with a corner snipped off.
- Pipe 9 evenly-spaced dollops of meringue on top of the lemon bars.
- Return to the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the meringues are lightly browned.
- Let cool completely, then refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Slice into 9 bars. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts : Calories 370 calories, Carbohydrate 44 grams, Fat 18 grams, Fiber 0 grams, Protein 6 grams, Sugar 29 grams
THE BEST LEMON BARS
Tart, rich and perfection, all rolled into one! Wow your friends with this simple recipe. Hint: No Substitutions!
Provided by Patty Schenck
Categories Desserts Fruit Dessert Recipes Lemon Dessert Recipes
Time 55m
Yield 36
Number Of Ingredients 7
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
- Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. For a festive tray, make another pan using limes instead of lemons and adding a drop of green food coloring to give a very pale green. After both pans have cooled, cut into uniform 2 inch squares and arrange in a checker board fashion.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 125.8 calories, Carbohydrate 17.8 g, Cholesterol 34.2 mg, Fat 5.8 g, Fiber 0.5 g, Protein 1.6 g, SaturatedFat 3.4 g, Sodium 44.4 mg, Sugar 11.2 g
CHEF JOHN'S LEMON BARS
This is one of my favorite cookies of all time, although technically they're closer to a pie than a cookie. Nothing prepares you for that intense, awesome sweet-tart lemon flavor and custard, perfectly contrasted against that crisp, sweet buttery shortbread cookie.
Provided by Chef John
Categories Desserts Fruit Dessert Recipes Lemon Dessert Recipes
Time 1h40m
Yield 16
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Place an oven rack into middle position in oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly oil an 8x8-inch baking dish.
- Place 1 cup flour and butter in a mixing bowl and mash with the back of a spatula or wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. Mix in 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and salt; mash mixture together until mixture looks like a slightly crumbly cookie dough.
- Moisten your fingers with a little water and press dough into bottom of prepared baking dish. Use a fork to prick holes all over the crust.
- Bake crust on center rack in the preheated oven until crust edges are barely golden brown, 22 minutes.
- Beat eggs and egg yolks together in a bowl; whisk in white sugar and 2 tablespoons flour until smooth. Add lemon juice and lemon zest; whisk for 2 minutes. Pour lemon custard over crust.
- Bake on center rack until custard is set and top has a thin white sugary crust, 25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into bars. Dip knife into very hot water, run around the edge, and cut into 16 squares. Dust cookies with 1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 153 calories, Carbohydrate 21.8 g, Cholesterol 51.3 mg, Fat 6.7 g, Fiber 0.3 g, Protein 1.9 g, SaturatedFat 4 g, Sodium 46.6 mg, Sugar 14.8 g
AMY'S BREAD ZESTY LEMON BARS
This is from the The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread Cookbook by Amy Scherber of Manhattan's Amy's Bread Restaurants.
Provided by Nado2003
Categories Bar Cookie
Time 1h5m
Yield 20 bars, 20 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 15
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center of oven. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
- To make crust: In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and salt; process to combine. Add butter to processor and process until mixture is pale yellow and resembles a coarse meal, about 10 seconds. If you don't have a food processor, whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and work into flour mixture using a pastry blender or your fingers.
- Pour crust mixture into prepared baking dish, pressing down with your fingers to create a 1/4-inch-thick layer along the bottom and 1/2-inch up the sides, pressing firmly at the edges to seal. But do not over press the entire pan, you don't want the crust to be overworked and chewy. Transfer pan to freezer and freeze for 30 minutes. Transfer to oven and bake, rotating pan once during baking, until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the topping: In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and lemon juice, add flour, milk, and salt until well combined, then gently stir in beaten eggs. Do not over beat the eggs or they will be foamy.
- Remove baking pan from oven. Stir topping and pour into warm crust. Return pan to oven and continue baking until topping is just set but not browned, about 20 minutes.
- Transfer baking pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into 20 squares. Serve immediately or wrap each bar tightly with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
ZESTY LEMON BARS
These are some of the best lemon bars I have ever tasted. No one can eat just one. If cut into one inch squares, one serving would be about 4 of them.
Provided by Matthew Molus
Categories Bar Cookie
Time 50m
Yield 30 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 8
Steps:
- Cream together the butter and sugar.
- Add flour and oatmeal to the butter and sugar mixture to make dough.
- (it will be a little crumbly) Set aside.
- Stir juice and zest into milk.
- Set aside.
- Butter (or spray) a 9 by 13-inch pan.
- Press two-thirds to three quarters of the dough into the pan.
- Spread lemon/milk mixture evenly over the top of the dough.
- Sprinkle the remaining dough over the top.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until golden.
- Let cool, slice into 1-inch squares.
- Cut into larger squares if you like.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 167, Fat 7.6, SaturatedFat 4.7, Cholesterol 20.8, Sodium 60.7, Carbohydrate 22.9, Fiber 0.6, Sugar 14.1, Protein 2.5
Tips:
- Use fresh lemons for the best flavor. Bottled lemon juice can be used, but it will not produce as bright and tangy a flavor.
- Grate the lemon zest finely. This will help to release the essential oils and give the bars a more intense lemon flavor.
- Do not overmix the batter. Overmixing can make the bars tough.
- Bake the bars until they are just set in the center. Overbaking will make the bars dry.
- Let the bars cool completely before cutting them. This will help to prevent them from crumbling.
- Dust the bars with powdered sugar before serving. This will add a touch of sweetness and elegance.
Conclusion:
Zesty lemon bars are a delicious and refreshing treat that are perfect for any occasion. They are easy to make and can be customized to your liking. With a few simple tips, you can make perfect lemon bars that will wow your friends and family. So next time you are looking for a sweet and tangy treat, give these zesty lemon bars a try. You won't be disappointed!
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