It rained and stormed all day today.
This type of weather makes me happy and cheerful. It also really put me in the mood to BAKE!
My friend, Michelle has been feeling very under the weather lately, so I thought that I would make a treat to take to her and try to cheer her up. Lemon Bars are both sunshiny and on Chelle’s “MMMMM” list so they seemed perfect. I make pretty yummy lemon bars. I started off using my favorite shortbread recipe, tweaking it so it was a little less dense and then adding coconut. When I’m feeling really randy, I throw in some finely chopped pecans into the crust mixture as well, though today was a nut-free sort of day.
Besides the ultra yummy crust, the biggest secret is that you can NEVER USE ENOUGH FILLING!!!! Bare minimum, I double what the filling calls for and I often end up tripling it. This recipe already has the filling doubled, but if you want to add and addition half to triple it, feel free. As I said, it would be difficult to use too much filling in my opinion. Of course, you are also talking to the girl that unscrews her double-stuffed Oreos and makes them into “Quadruple Stuffed Oreos”, so you may want to rethink the last statement. (I still think Oreo should consider marketing these, though. It would save me a lot of work. Though, knowing me I would just end up with Octuple Oreos. Ug. I feel sick, now.)
A lot of people have asked me for my recipe, so I thought it would be a perfect goodie to post on my blog.
The following is for an 8X8X2 pan. I double this when using a standard 9X13.
Crust
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted, cooled
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
*Optional 1/4 cup minced pecans.
Filling
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon (packed) finely grated lemon peel
2 teaspoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top
PREPARATION
For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Toast coconut until golden brown and cool. 
Line 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan with foil, leaving overhang. Butter foil. (I ran out of foil, so I just butter the pans directly. Using the foil saves a LOT of work if you are cutting them into squares)
Combine flour, sugar, and salt in processor bowl and blend 5 seconds.
Add butter and mix;
Before the butter is too finely integrated, slowly add the coconut. 
Mix until dough resembles fine meal and begins to clump together. The dough should be the size of large peas (Left)and be able to form a ball when squeezed (Right)
Gather dough into ball. Press dough evenly over bottom of prepared pan.
Bake crust until golden at edges, about 25 minutes.
While the crust is baking, prepare filling:
Combine 1 1/2 cup sugar and eggs into mixing bowl.
Zest and juice lemons and add to the mixture. (I love my hand-held citrus juicer and the microplane is one of my very favorite kitchen tools in the world.)I ALWAYS end up adding more zest and lemon juice to this recipe because I like my lemon bars on the tart side. Just take a taste and make play around with it until it is to your preferred taste.
Add flour, baking powder, and salt in processor. Blend filling until smooth.
Remove crust from oven. Pour filling evenly over hot crust.
Return to oven and bake until filling begins to brown at edges and is just set and springy to touch in center, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to rack; cool lemon bars completely. Using foil as aid, transfer lemon bars to work surface. Flatten foil edges. Cut into 16 bars. Sift powdered sugar over. (Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight in s
ingle layer in refrigerator.)
Enjoy!
That looks so good. I am making these next week.
I’ve never tasted you lemon bars. Do I not deserve sunshine too?
:-D
Yummy! I can’t wit to try this recipe.
if i only baked…
YUM. For all of you that are salivating right now. They were delicious. I was the taste tester. Not always an enviable position, but yesterday it was a great one.
And to everyone. Loralee totally brightened my day yesterday. I have been going through some major life suck so she made me go out with her to dinner. She even made me have a margarita.
Thank you Loralee… I heart you!
OCTUPLE stuffed Oreos, Loralee? Surely that would be way too much, even for you!
Thank you, Lo. They are beautiful and yummy, I know because I risked life and limb to get off the couch and eat one before bed last night… You rock my world!
Martha Stewart, MOVE OVER!
i love lemon bars.
i like lime bars even more. love them, in fact. LOVE THEM.
this looks yum.
Those look so amazing. Can I drop by???
quite the little Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart. I’m not a fan of lemon (I love the actual lemon but I don’t like stuff that’s made from lemon – lemon merange, lemon pudding, blah). the pictures are awesome.
Okay, what is up with everyone posting about food! Ah! I am “dieting”. Even thought I totally hate that word- I think it gives people the wrong idea, I have decided to take drastic measures. For one whole week now, I have been consuming 300 calories a day. Yes. That is it. I have lost over twenty pounds. Sure, I bet more than half of it is water, but STILL! The only other time I ever lost weight was after having a big ol’ baby!
I like making my own little blog entries in your comments- its fun!
Ok, um, we need to im or something- I watched the finale of LOST, and OMFG! I feel so confused!
I love lemon bars! And it’s not just because my name is lemon blossom. Oh, wait, maybe that’s why my name is lemon blossom. I’m confused.
I LOVE lemon bars and will so have to try these out.
I also like using lime juice too, that’s mighty tasty.
And I love your wedding ring, by the way, it’s gorgeous.
Man, I’m so jonesing for sugar right now… And this is not helping. I’m going to print this out and try it.
Ha! I’m just now reading this. Excellent. They look fantastic.
Best place to get hard house mix from, i am looking for a good site that i can dowload some free sets to give me an idea on how to mix As i have just got my self some cdj 400,s thanks
I’m a struggling female DJ who’s trying to make it in the music/DJ industry. But it seems that the industry is taking for granted when it comes to gender. Opinons, help, guides & etc pls…