Lemon Bars...a work in progress

During the winter months, nothing beats the freshness of citrus flavors. Reminding you of the sun's warm heat beating down in your skin, working-out outside, and the longer days. Since Dean isn't the biggest fan of chocolate, and well it is one of my Achilles heals of eat, I thought I would satisfy my sweet tooth with some Lemon Bars. And when I am looking for a recipe, I always look to the one and only Barefoot Contessa (as you will notice in my blogs, I am kinda obsessed with her and everything she does!)

My search for the perfect Lemon Bar recipe lead me to foodnetwork.com! And of course, I took the Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Bar recipe to test my tiny kitchen!

So here is the recipe with my own tips and tricks.

I started by bringing all my cold ingredients to room temperature. I don't own any electric mixer at the time being, so I rely on my own strength and a whisk!

I turned the oven on to preheat to 350 and then started the crust.

For the crust:
* 2 sticks of butter
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 2 cups flour

I mixed all of the ingredients in a bowl. Once they started to mix together, I poured the crust into a 9" x 13" glass baking dish. And pressed it down to form a flat surface. The recipe says you should chill the dough back down. Now usually I skip this step, however, this time I didn't! And did it make a difference. My crust was light and flaky when it was complete! More on that to come later.

While the crust was baking for 15 - 20 minutes, I mixed together the ingredients for the lemon filling layer together.

For the filling:
* 6 eggs at room temperature
* 3 cups sugar
* 3 tablespoons zested lemons (about 6 - 7 depending on the size of your lemons)
* 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I have a trick to make this easier)
* 1 cup flour
* Confectioners' sugar, for dusting when cool!

After the crust finished baking in the oven, you have to let it cool before you pour in the filling. So I mixed all the wet ingredients together and let sit while I waited. This is a something I wouldn't do again. Next time, I am going to make the filling right before I pour on the crust and put back in the oven!

Once your filling is complete, pour on top of the crust and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until it is set. My oven temperture seems to be off these days (see last post for more details) so my filling cooked and formed a slight 'skin' on top. I wasn't too thrilled with the results, but the flavor was there! I think there a couple reasons I had a 'skin' form, like making the filling too early and allowing it to rest. Not going to do that next time.



Well, I def indulged last night and had a slice topped with some fresh blueberries (Ah-MAZ-ING). You can tell I had a slight larger serving, but I didn't eat sugar the entire month of January, a girl has got to indulge sometimes! And Lent is just around the corner and there is going to be no more sugar again (more on that to come later)! Can you see where I went a little OCD with the peeling the 'skin' off the lemon bars? I was so bummed about this! Last time I made them (which was a couple years ago) I don't remeber that happening!

My work-out this morning made them worth it! Plus feeding the doormen in my building with treats keeps them happy :)