These Lemon Bars Will Make Your Parents Proud

Around three times a year, I sell these lemon bars on campus.  Each bar is priced at $3—a price I've heard many complaints about. However, every single person I've sold them to has said it was worth it. I had a friend spend $30 one time. 

All I can say is that these lemon bars are pure magic. They're cheap and easy to make and, for $3 a bar, are guaranteed to make your parents proud.  

Lemon Bars

• Prep Time:20 mins
• Cook Time:50 mins
• Total Time:1 hr 10 mins
• Servings:30
• Medium

Ingredients

• For the Crust
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter
• For the Filling
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 4 tablespoons flour
• Rind 2 lemons
• Juice 2 lemons at least 1/3 cup
• 4 eggs
• Powdered sugar for topping

• Step 1

  Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Assemble the ingredients needed for the shortbread crust (2 cups flour, salt, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 cup butter).

  

• Step 2

  Make sure the butter is slightly softened with a texture like ice cream. If you have time, you can just leave it out at room temperature.
  #SpoonTip: If you're lazy like me and just took your butter out of the fridge, microwave it for 20 seconds for the perfect texture.

  

• Step 3

  Cream your butter, either using a whisk or an electric mixer on "low." Slowly add the salt and the powdered sugar.

  

• Step 4

  Slowly add your 2 cups of flour, still beating on speed "low."
  #SpoonTip: If you want to avoid a huge mess, add the flour a little (i.e. 1/4 cup) at a time. Trust me, if you add it all at once, your kitchen will look like a coke factory.

  

• Step 5

  After you've added ~1 cup of your flour, scrape down the edges of the bowl with your favorite spatula (I chose a snowman spatula).

  

• Step 6

  Your dough should now have a rough texture with small peaks. Grease a 9 x 13'' baking pan and cover the bottom in dough.
  #SpoonTip: Use butter to grease your pan instead of PAM. It tastes WAY better.

  

• Step 7

  Pop the crust in the over for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let it cool for ~20 minutes before adding the filling. If you don't wait, the filling and crust in the final produce will separate.

  

• Step 8

  Now it's time for the filling. First, grate the rinds of your two lemons. Try not to scrape your fingers.

  

• Step 9

  Juice those same two lemons. If you're lucky like me, you'll have your grandmother's juicer from the 60's on hand and you can take some #vintage photos. If not, simply hand juicing will work. Just make sure your filling doesn't have any seeds in it!

  

• Step 10

  With the mixer on "low," beat your 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar into your lemon mixture.
  #SpoonTip: Add more sugar if you want a sweeter bar, and less sugar/more juice if you want a tart bar.

  

• Step 11

  Add your 4 remaining tablespoons of flour. Continue beating on "low."

  

• Step 12

  Beat in the 4 eggs, adding them one at a time. Make sure you don't have any egg shell or lemon seeds in the filling!

  

• Step 13

  Right after you're done beating in the eggs, pour the filling over the cooled crust. Do not let the filling sit! Bake at 350 ˚F for 30 minutes or until a knife comes out relatively clean.
  #SpoonTip: Sometimes, the edges of the lemon filling will crystallize and turn brown. This happens—it tastes fine, it's just ugly. You can easily cut it away.

  

• Step 14

  Once the bars are done, let them cool down. Serve at room temperature with powdered sugar sprinkled on top.