Recipe

These Lemon Bars Will Make Your Parents Proud

By Isabella Martin at University of Chicago

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
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

Isabella Martin

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).

Isabella Martin

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.

Isabella Martin

Step 3

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

Isabella Martin

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.

Isabella Martin

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).

Isabella Martin

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.

Isabella Martin

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.

Isabella Martin

Step 8

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

Isabella Martin

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!

Isabella Martin

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.

Isabella Martin

Step 11

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

Isabella Martin

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!

Isabella Martin

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.

Isabella Martin

Step 14

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

Isabella Martin