After a fairly disastrous attempt to make wheat free, dairy free, egg free, banana muffins, I decided to make something less frustrating -- Lemon Squares with European Style Butter. They were so good that I may never make lemon squares without fancy butter!
The topping was a little stiff due to the flour (I guess), but still tasty and pretty lemony. Plus, the stiffness of the filling makes the bars fairly portable…not that I’m taking them anywhere, but you may want to. The recipe doesn’t have any baking powder or baking soda so if you are allergic to chemical leavening agents you are in luck. Is there such thing as a baking powder allergy?
Recipe
Lemon Squares with European Style Butter
Lemon squares on a crust made with European style butter. When I first made these I used Plugra, however since then I've used all kinds of fancy butter including Kerrygold.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 stick 4 oz /114 grams European style salted butter, room temperature (Plugra)
- ¼ cup powdered sugar 25 grams
- 1 cup 4.5 ounces/130 grams all-purpose flour
Filling:
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 170 grams
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup plus ½ tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C). Line an 8 inch metal pan with nonstick foil or parchment.
- Beat the butter and powdered sugar together until creamy. Add flour and stir until blended.
- Press into bottom of pan, then bake on center rack for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk eggs together, then beat in the sugar and zest. Gently stir in the flour until it disappears. Stir in the lemon juice and pour the mixture over the hot baked crust.
- Return pan to oven and bake on center rack for another 18-20 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes, then dust top with powdered sugar. Lift from pan and cut into 16 squares.
Notes
If you decide to use regular unsalted butter, add about ¼ teaspoon of salt to the crust mixture.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
C L says
The lemon bars finally got made! And they are sooo good. Thank you, Anna, you've done it again! Your recipe is perfection! The only thing I did differently was to omit the zest because the lemon juice I used was juiced through a Juiceman juicer so there was lots of fresh lemon oil from the peels. The lemons were a combination of Meyer and Eureka, heavy on the Meyer. The coworkers are going to love these tomorrow. 🙂
Chelsea says
I love lemon bars, & these are so simple, I may be able to accomplish baking them before the new baby is up for another feeding!
Ashley says
Hi there. Not sure if you've seen or tried these cookies ever. The story and recipe were on the Today show yesterday, and I tried them today. I used 1 egg and 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice. They came out pretty great, but I found the dough was really frustrating to work with even after refrigerating (though I was pretty impatient in letting it chill). Thought I would pass it along for you to try if you haven't and maybe work with it to post on your site. 🙂
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/31090667/
Avanika (Yumsilicious Bakes) says
Oohh these look delicious 😀
How did you get photo to look so good? Have you used a light box?
Louise says
Snooky doodle -- Butter sold in United States markets is typically 80% to 82% butterfat whereas European style butter is 82% or higher butterfat. So it tastes richer as there's less water.
snooky doodle says
These look good! I use European butter since I live in Europe but what does it have differently?
Anna says
Karen, I think this crust combined with that topping would be perfect!
Natanya says
I'm thinking my co-workers would really appreciated me if I brought these in to make their Monday a better place. I'll have to decide now if they really deserve them 🙂 I haven't ever baked with European butter but now I really want to try these so I can have that experience.
Emily L. says
When I dream of desserts, and for some reason I'm not dreaming about chocolate, I'm dreaming of these.
Katrina says
I bought a 1/2 pound of Plugra a month or so ago and keep waiting for just the right reason to use it. The bars look great.
Karen says
I wonder how these would be with this crust, but using that creamy lemon topping you used some months back? The one with half and half? Guess I'll have to try it and let you know!
C L says
With a gallon of freshly squeezed lemon juice in my freezer, this looks like a "must-make-now" treat! 🙂 As soon as the dishes are done, this is my next project. Yes, I know...clean the kitchen to mess it up again. LOL 🙂 My coworkers are going to love these lemon bars.