I grew up with a lemon tree growing in the backyard. Loved that! We had a huge crop of lemons twice a year. And since I started cooking and baking at an early age, I was rather possessive of the lemon crop. I still am, come to think of it. So thankful when my dad brings me a big bag of lemons.
We usually make three sweet things with lemons: Old Fashioned Lemonade, Lemon Meringue Pie, and Lemon Bars. These lemon bars are so easy. They come together in a matter of minutes. I added a little twist in pulsing crystallized ginger into the crust. But, you can easily leave it out.
Bar cookies can be difficult to wrangle out of the pan in one piece, so I lined the pan first with aluminum foil. Once baked and cooled, I was able to remove the entire “pan” of bars onto a cutting board, to cut prettily.
Lemon Ginger Bars
Crust:
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, cut into cubes
1 Tablespoon crystallized ginger
Lemon Topping:
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
additional powdered sugar for sifting over top
Heat the oven to 350°. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, butter, sugar and crystallized ginger. Pulse until dough starts to form. Press dough into an ungreased 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Build up the sides about 1/2 inch. Bake for 20 minutes.
In the bowl of the food processor — no need to wash it out — blend topping ingredients until light and foamy, about three minutes. Pour lemon mixture over crust. Bake for about 25 minutes until set and no indentation remains when touched in the center. Cool and cut into squares. Sift over additional powdered sugar if desired.
What’s your favorite lemony thing?
Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Kerrygold.
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These look really yummy! Love the idea of adding crystallized ginger. That stuff is so good! Thanks for linking up. 🙂
Absolutely delicious Lemon bars 🙂
Oh yum! These look tasty! We have a ton of lemons in Phoenix from December – April. I’m looking forward to making these.
I love lemon. My mother in law has two lemon trees in her garden. And we have a lot of juicy lemons. They are usually used in lemonade, or in desserts. I even baked lemon bars, but in my recipe ginger is omitted. Yours lemon bars look so tender and delicious.
I love lemon anything. Here in Michigan is sees so utterly weird to have a lemon tree — or any kind of citrus tree. I can’t imagine how great that would be!
If I had that easy (and free) access to lemons I’m afraid I would drink myself into a mouthfull of cavities with all that delicous homemade lemonade.
I have to admit that the appropriate answer for me is ANYTHING lemon. 🙂
Will this recipe and all the rest you post later all freeze well? I’m not an expierenced baker so I have no idea. Thank You.
I froze them all — so let’s hope so. LOL. So far, so good. 😉
@Jessica, Did you just layer them with wax paper? I have some bar like cookies I want to freeze and I wondered if it would be better to individually wrap them.
@Dana, yes, they thawed fine.
There’s an amazing recipe for lemon pasta in the book “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” It calls for lemon zest and juice, creme fraiche, and not a whole lot else. It is phenomenal if you really love the taste of lemon.
I loved that book!
These sound delicious!
Anything lemon — just love lemon!
My favorite lemony thing? The lemon butter I make to dip king crab legs into!
Sounds good!