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Life-changing Lemon Bars
Years ago, before my baking life, I was invited to a potluck at my favorite professor’s house. Wanting to impress I began by rifling through my mother’s cookbooks. I came across a church cookbook from Healton Okla., the town where my grandparents, aunts and cousins lived. Many still live in that little town.
In that recipe collection was a gem for Lemon Bars. Who knew that moment would change my path? The bars were such a hit that I made them for just about every potlucky event I was invited to. Later, I twisted the recipe to suit my tastes and added different elements to make the bars unique.
A few years later, while working at a fancy department store in San Francisco, a customer tasted my lemon bars at a Christmas party. I was hired. This gentleman hired me to bake him a batch of the bars each week, and my interest in baking professionally was planted.
So you can now see why Lemon Bars are so dear to me. I believe they are the favorite of my youngest sister Dawn, and son Dexter, so they always bring sweet memories to me when our home is filled with the aroma of baking lemon bars.
Lemon bars are a fun treat to make that are simple and a pleasure to make with kids. Yes, these are the bars that I made at my little shop, so the flavor may be familiar to many Food For Thought readers. I certainly hope that you make these bars to share with friends and family!
Print This Recipe[print]Andrea’s Lemon Bars
For Lemon Bar Crust:
1 pound unsalted butter
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon zest
Prepare baking pan by lightly buttering it. I use a 8-by-13 Pyrex dish.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
To make the crust, combine all the ingredients into the bowl of your standing mixer. Combine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs and begins to hold together. Remove dough from mixer and spread with your hands evenly into pan. Press the crust down and along sides of pan. Bake the crust for about 15-18 minutes or until LIGHTLY golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before adding lemon filling.
For Lemon Bar filling
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Zest of 2 lemons
Powdered sugar to dust on cooled bars
Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. To prepare the lemon bar filling, begin with a medium-sized bowl. Whisk together eggs and granulated sugar until combined well. Stir in the lemon juice and flour. Whisk until everything looks incorporated and smooth. Pour the lemon mixture over cooled shortbread.
Bake your delights in the middle of oven until set, about 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan and cut into bars. I like mine in triangles. Lemon bars will keep, covered and chilled, 3 days. Sift powdered sugar over bars before serving.
Enjoy!!
Andrea Charroin was a trained baker and pastry chef in San Francisco before she and her family moved to Redding nine years ago. After falling in love with Redding’s downtown, Andrea and husband Westley opened a little pastry shop, Rene-Joule Patisserie, across from the Cascade Theatre. For the three years Rene-Joule was in business, it was renowned for making everything from scratch, using the best ingredients and keeping with a seasonal menu. To this day, Andrea is asked about her Marathon Bars, Orange Twists and sourdough bread.
Copyright 2008 Andrea R. Charroin. Visit my blog at bakerslove.typepad.com.
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I LOVE a good lemon bar, and these sound heavenly.
I’ll be making them soon (and giving everyone who ask for the recipe this website)>
Thanks for posting!
I’ve always known you make the best lemon bars around ……love reading how your “Oklahoma roots” played a big part in life….
Dear Andrea,
It’s a delight to hear about your famous lemon bars. My oldest daughter Therese loves to bake and lemon bars have always been her favorite. Thanks for sharing the history behind the lemon bars. Since I was lucky enough to visit your Mom’s home town, it brings back wonderful memories.
My best to you and your family
Mom Pope
I love a good lemon bar. I must prefer lemony to chocolatey. Thanks.
Lemon Bars! I’m so happy to see your recipe on lemon bars. I’m anxious to give the recipe a try. Thanks for sharing.
Just this week I was looking for my recipe of lemon bars and have lost it. I was sick and turned to the computer to find a good lemon bar. Well to my surprise, here you are sharing your recipe with us. Couldn’t have come at a better time as I have loads of lemons from my sister’s home in the bay area and now I can begin to use them up making lemon bars. Thank you, thank you!!
Thank you for being so responsive to my request for your recipe for lemon bars. They look absolutely perfect, and I can hardly wait to start baking. How wonderful to have your column every week! Andrea
Here is one of the reasons I love Andrea Charroin: She shares. Do you know how rare it is for a chef to share her most popular recipes? I feel so fortunate that we have Andrea’s talent and goodness on Food for Thought: A News Cafe. Thank you, Andrea. I’m so glad you’re here.
The Lemon Bars sound so delicious. Unfortunately, my triglyceride count would go crazy, but if you passed one past my nose, I’d grab it quick, even if the doctor said you might drop dead from eating one!
Sorry I missed eating any of your good food while you business was open.
God bless.
So happy to get your famous Lemon Bar recipe! I will be trying them soon…can’t beat the down home cooks from Oklahoma….Love ya’ll…Aunt Linda
Andrea, thanks for the recipe using real lemons rather than pudding mix, which is the recipe that I have. You might want to try this variation sometime. After the shortbread has cooled, mix 1 package of cream cheese with 1 cup of powdered sugar, beat until fluffy, fold 1 cup of whipped topping [yeah, I know] into cream cheese mixture, spread that on shortbread, then spread the lemon filling on top. Top with remaining topping. Sprinkle with pecans. I’m sure real whipped cream would work. I doubled the cream cheese, sugar and whipped topping, liked it better.
Thanks for sharing–can’t wait to make these!
I made these last night for my galpal poker game tonight.
I panicked because it looked like a LOT of crust and divided it into 1 lg and 1 small pan. BIG MISTAKE> Too much crust and not enough filling.
Next time I’ll trust the recipe, put it all in a 9×13 pan, push up the edges to make sides and pour on the filling.
GREAT FLAVOR!
Will definitely be making these again.
Thanks again for the recipe!
Oh, goodie!! I have wanted your recipe for years (but never thought to ask). Mmmmmm, Andreas’ lemon bars…