How to Make Your Own Lemon Bars

If you need a dessert for a potluck, lemon bars might be the answer. A classic treat, lemon bars are both tart and sweet. They’re also easy to make in large quantities and cut into small pieces for sharing. While it might seem intimidating to make them from scratch, the process is simple and the ingredients are relatively inexpensive. Here is all the info you’ll need to make delicious lemon bars for your next potluck:

Ingredients

This dessert has two key parts: the crust and the topping. For the crust, you’ll need:

1 3/4 cup of all purpose flour

1/4 cup of cornstarch

1 tsp of salt

1 cup of Confectioners’ sugar

2 sticks of unsalted butter

And for the lemon topping, you’ll need:

6 large lemons

3 cups of granulated sugar

2 tbsp of lemon zest

2/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

2/3 cup of all purpose flour

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Use heavy-duty aluminum foil to cover a metal baking pan. Grease the foil with vegetable oil or nonstick cooking spray.
3. Mix up the flour, cornstarch, salt and confectioners’ sugar in a bowl. You can mix the dry ingredients either by hand or with a mixer.
4. Using a mixer, add in the butter and blend. The ideal crust texture is coarse, so you only need to blend it for about 10 seconds.
5. Add the mixture into the baking pan in an even layer. Use your hands or a flat utensil to flatten the crust into the bottom of the pan, leaving a slightly higher edge to the crust along the sides.
6. Once the crust is fully settled, bake for about 20 minutes.
7. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and the additional flour. Blend until perfectly smooth.
8. Pour the lemon mixture over the top of the freshly baked crust and immediately put the pan back into the oven for 30 minutes or until the topping is firm.
9. When done baking, use the aluminum foil to remove the bars from the pan and place on a room temperature cooling rack.
10. Once cooled, the bars should separate easily from the foil. Use a knife to cut into the desired sizes and shapes and dust the tops with the extra confectioners’ sugar.

This recipe yields about 20 servings, but you can adjust it for the size of your group. Regardless, you’ll be the star of the potluck with these delicious homemade lemon bars.