Lemon Bars

I've never tried lemon bars before but have been on a lemon kick this week and decided to give them a shot.  I found that most people really liked the Barefoot Contessa version of lemon bars and since I always find that Ina's recipes turn out really well decided to try these.  I found a slightly modified version of this recipe on Smitten Kitchen decreasing the lemon filling to make a more 1:1 ration between the filling and crust and thought that'd work better for what I was looking for.  I was not disappointing.  These bars were fantastic.  They had such a nice lemon punch to them but were still sweet and the shortbread crust was just awesome.  If you love lemons then this is definitely something you want to try.  

Shortbread Crust:

2 sticks unsalted room temp. butter

1/2 c. sugar

2 c. flour

1/8 tsp. salt

Lemon Filling:

4 large eggs, room temp.

1 2/3 c. sugar

1 1/2 tbsp. lemon zest (3-4 lemons)

2/3 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice

2/3 c. flour

Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan.  You may want to even grease the pan, add parchment paper to the bottom and sides to pull out the bars when cooled and grease the parchment.  For the crust start by creaming the butter and sugar in the mixer with paddle attachment.  Add in the flour and salt and mix until just combined.  It'll look crumbly.  Pour onto a hard surface and push it all together to get it into a rough ball.  Then put into your pan and push it down to form the crust.  You'll want about 1/2 inch around the edges.  Go ahead and chill for about 20 minutes.  Then bake until light brown, roughly 15 minutes.  Leave the oven on but let the crust start to cool while you make the lemon filling.  Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour until completely combined.  Pour over the crust and bake about 25 minutes or to the point where the filling is just set.  Allow to cool to room temperature and then dust the top with a generous layer of powdered sugar.  Cut into bars or triangles.  

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