Bars. Lemon Bars.
Hello to my Brothers in Baking as well as to my actual brothers (Frodo and Harry). This is James Bond. Today I will be sharing one of my favorite recipes, my famous lemon bars. Well, they’re not actually famous, I just thought that sounded like a good selling point.
I’ve always loved deserts that aren’t too sweet, and this recipe has the perfect balance. The brown sugar in the crust gives it a slight toffee flavor, a nice contrast to the tart filling. The bars are simple to make and delicious, so let’s jump into it.
I used to make these bars all the time at the bomb factory. Or at least anytime we had access to lemons. I remember one time when the mysterious owners of the bomb factory gave us our bimonthly crate of food and it was all lemons! We got sick of these bars! Now I can look back on those memories fondly. As I lament being away from my brothers at the MI6 headquarters, I need something to remind me of better times. As much as I’ve [redacted] my time at MI6, nothing compares to time spent with my brothers. Sometimes I feel [redacted]. I hope you like the recipe!
Here’s some pictures from the MI6 kitchen to yours:
Indredients – Crust
6 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted then cooled to room temp
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
Ingredients – Fillings
3/4 cup plus 1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 Tbs. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 large eggs, room temp
3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 8-inch square baking pan with parchement paper making sure that the paper extends past the pan.
- Crust: Stir together butter, brown sugar, lemon zest and salt in a bowl. Then stir in flour. Once mixture is dough-like and crumbly, transfer to prepared pan. Pat mixture into bottom of the pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown.
- Filling: Whisk together sugar, lemon juice, honey, vanilla, salt and eggs in bowl. Then whisk in flour. Pour mixture over hot crust.
- Return pan to oven reducing heat to 300ºF. bake 15-20 minutes or until filling barely jiggles in center. Remove pan from oven and let completely cool. Once cool, lift square out using parchment paper and slice into bars.
I hope you have as much fun making these as I do! Until next time, James Bond out.