Early Spring Lemon Bars

 Last summer and fall the Meyer lemon shrub kept producing blossoms and those set fruit most of the time, so this winter there were dozens of lemons ripening. Now that it is early spring her in N. CA, the lemons are ripe and ready to enjoy. I made lemon curd, using fresh eggs from a neighbor's chickens, but I really love lemon bars, so I baked those, too. In both the rich orange yolk of farm eggs made the yellow pop!

Aside from zesting and juicing lots of lemons, both recipes are pretty easy. The curd does require a long bout of stirring and you need to sterilize the glass jars and lids that you'll use to hold the finished curd, but it is well worth it. I gave a jar to the same neighbor... only fair since their chickens had provided the eggs... and here is what they said: That lemon curd is the best I've ever tasted. It's heavenly. An incredible balance of lemony richness and light whipped wonderfulness." You can make it with regular lemons and with limes, too.

The Lemon Bars have a shortbread type crust on the bottom and a lemon pie filling type filling over that. Do allow it to cool fully before cutting. Some people sprinkle on a bit of confectioners' sugar, but I like them just as they are. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. Yay for spring!

Elle's Lemon Bars
Make 16 cookies

Crust:
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) non-dairy margarine or unsalted butter, cold

Filling:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 - 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
1/4 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup lemon juice, seeds removed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a greased 8-inch square baking pan with foil, leaving some foil hanging over the edges. Grease the foil. (I used original Pam spray oil.) Set aside.

For the crust, place the lemon zest and the brown sugar in a medium bowl. With clean hands, use your fingers to rub the zest and sugar together until zest if fully combined with the sugar. Add the flour and confectioners' sugar  and salt and whisk the mixture until combined. Use a pastry blender or two table knives to cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until butter is in very small pieces. Turn the mixture into the prepared pan and, with very clean hands, pat the mixture down firmly to form an even crust, with a small amount (about 1/2 inch) of crust up the sides of the pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Crust should be barely light brown.

While crust is baking, prepare the filling:
Place the granulated sugar into the same bowl you used for the crust. Add the lemon zest and, using clean fingers, rub the zest into the sugar. Sugar may look like damp sand since you are using a lot of zest. Whisk in the flour and then the eggs. Once well combined, whisk in the lemon juice. Taste a bit of the mixture and add more zest if you like it zestier.

When the crust is barely light brown, remove the pan from the oven and pour the filling over the hot crust. Return the pan to the oven and reduce the heat to 325 degrees. Bake for about 14-20 minutes more. When done there will be a bit of browning around the edges of the cookies and the center will only jiggle slightly, if at all.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a rack until pan is barely warm to the touch. Transfer to the refrigerator and cool for two hours.

Remove the pan from the fridge, loosen the foil and use the foil to lift the cookie from the pan to a cutting board. Carefully cut the bars into sixteen cookies. If desired, sift some confectioner's sugar (about 1 teaspoon) over the cooled and cut cookies before serving.