Lemon Squares
Updated April 12, 2017
Craig Lee for The New York Times
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
2 cups/256 grams flour, plus ¼ cup/32 grams
½ cup confectioners' sugar/61 grams, plus 2 teaspoons
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup/227 grams (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
4 eggs
2 cups/400 grams granulated sugar
⅓ cup/80 milliliters lemon juice (from about 1 to 2 lemons)
½ teaspoon baking powder
Nutritional analysis per serving (16 servings)
37 grams carbs; 70 milligrams cholesterol; 282 calories; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 13 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 155 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein; 30 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together two cups flour, ½ cup confectioners' sugar and salt. Add melted butter and stir to thoroughly combine. Spread with clean hands in an even layer into a 9-by-13-inch pan and bake for 25 minutes.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, lemon juice, baking powder and remaining flour. Pour onto the hot baked shell and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until just set. Using a small, fine meshed sieve, sift remaining confectioners' sugar on top when cool. Cut into equal bars.
Private Notes
Comments
Needs more lemon juice. This is one of my all-time favorite cookie recipes (I am a sweet-tart addict.) I was checking several copies of the recipe I have and found they are basically, through all time, the same..only varying in whether to include lemon zest in the curd or not. THIS recipe calls for 1/3 C lemon juice. All others suggest 2/3 C and I believe this is the best amount of juice to use. You can halve this recipe and use a 8" square pan.
I didn’t have any lemons on hand but substituted the canned pinto beans on my shelf. Tabasco for the confectioners sugar and a last minute swap of flour tortilla for the shortbread. Turns out as a lemon square it was awful, but I made a pretty decent burrito.
My go-to lemon bar recipe for 16 years. I usually add more lemon juice (2/3 cup total) and add the zest from all the lemons as well.
Lovely, fresh and easy. Thanks to previous commenters for advice. Mods: — doubled the lemon juice — added pinch of zest — cut sugar in filling by 1/3 — scattered flakes of seasalt on top of bakedwhile still warm Top tip: added freshly ground cardamom (seeds fr 3 pods) to shortbread - yum! I cut recipe in half, used 8x8 pan. It worked well, only tricky bit getting pastry to cover entire base w/o breaking. Though I succeeded (and no leakage of filling) next time I might make more of the pastry and increase its baking time. The stretched base was thin, so any increase is a plus. NB: someone asked if doubling the lemon juice would make the filling runny, unbalanced. I worried, too, as I poured it into the pan, but it set nicely in oven. Prob because of flour in filling.
The taste was excellent, tangy and sweet. But two observations - - I a rookie mistake by not making a shell for the biscuit - Consider reducing the sugar significantly and slightly increasing the quantity of lemon juice
Delicious. I doubled the lemon juice, added zest from all the lemons, reduced the sugar by almost half, and made a gluten-free crust with Krusteaz all-purpose and almond flour. I have trouble eating anything but these lemon bars until they are all gone. Oh my lord.