Lemon Bars

I love lemon bars. Sweet but tart with a rich shortbread crust, they are probably one of my all time favorite desserts EVER. It also doesn't hurt that they are pretty easy to make which is always a huge plus in my book.

I found these off of a website called Pinterest. Hellooooooo addiction! In case you live under a rock or in Antarctica or something, Pinterest is an online network of virtual pinboards. In a nutshell, you find a picture of something that you like and you pin it in a category of your creation. Then your followers/friends can tag it to their pinboards if it something that they like too. These pictures are linked to the pin's origin. So for example, if you find a pin from a food blog, nine times out of ten it will take you to the recipe so that you can make it! Sounds pretty fun right? WRONG! More like PRETTY EFFING AMAZING AND ADDICTIVE IN CAPS!!!

Also, Pinterest makes you feel creative while hoarding things on the internet...FOR FREE!

Back to the lemon bars. These are the first of many things that I have pinned that I want to experiment in the closet that is my kitchen. Unlike most lemon bars that I've had, these were a bit more tart and that really appealed to me. I don't particularly like things that are *too* sweet; I liked that these had a bite at the end.

One thing to note about my picture, I sprinkled the powdered sugar on too soon. I made these and then brought them to my grandparents' house three hours away. By the time we bit into them (which was pretty much as soon as we arrived), the powdered sugar had already melted away for the most part. Be sure to sprinkle it on right before serving.

Perfect Lemon Bars

For the crust:

   * 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

   * 1/3 cup sugar

   * 1/4 tsp. salt

   * 1 tbsp. lemon zest

   * 1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Filling:

   * 4 large eggs

   * 1 1/3 cups sugar

   * 1 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed and strained

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 9×9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil.

Make the crust. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Cut butter into chunks and add to flour mixture. Blend in with an electric mixer at low speed until mixture forms coarse, sandy crumbs. Pour into pan and press mixture down (with your fingers or the back of a spoon) into an even layer.

Bake for 16-19 minutes, until just lightly browned around the edges.

While crust is baking, make filling. Whisk together all filling ingredients in a large bowl.

When the crust comes out of the oven and is still hot, pour in filling mixture.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until filling is set and does not jiggle when the pan is gently shaken.

Cool completely before slicing.

Top slices with confectioners’ sugar to serve. Makes about 24 bars.

Recipe from Baking Bites