The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I was in a bit of quandary as to which recipe to post. First, when it turned really warm, I thought I'd look for some salads, then it turned chilly.

I get recipes thru my email from King Arthur Flour and saw this caption: After a long winter of rich desserts and slow-rising breads, the clean sparkling flavor of lemon is the perfect way to welcome warmer weather.

Perfect. Whether you are baking for your household or need some to take to a gathering, it seems lemon bars are always a treat. This recipe caption said they had tweaked it so the bars were now a little thicker.

No, I didn't get them made this weekend, because I made one of my favorite breads, Cornmeal Yeast Bread. But it will probably get made for dessert one of these days.

INGREDIENTS:

Crust-

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

¼ c. confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

8 Tbsp (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

Topping-

4 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 c. + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

3 Tbsp confectioners' sugar

¼ c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

2/3 c. lemon juice

¼ tsp salt

¼ c. confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. To make the crust, whisk the flour, salt, and powdered sugar together. Work in the batter until evenly distributed: the mixture will be crumbly. Press the crust firmly into an ungreased eight-inch square pan.

Bake the crust for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

While the crust is baking, make the topping. Combine the whole eggs, egg yolk, and sugars and whisk until smooth. Add the flour and salt, then the lemon juice and whisk until thoroughly combined.

Let the filling sit for 15 minutes or so, until the bubbles mostly disappear.

While the baked crust is still hot. Pour the topping over it. Return the bars to the oven and bake until they appear set and relatively dry on top, about 30 minutes.

Remove the bars from the oven and cool them on a rack. (take out of the pan or leave in the pan??) Just before serving, sprinkle the top of the bars with confectioners' sugar. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

MY NOTES: The short and long of it, I don't have any.

ENJOY!