Lemon bars

Today I decided to make lemon bars and have combined two recipes. I liked the topping from the veggie wedgie and the base from smitten kitchen. I didn't use the base from the veggie wedgie because I didn't have half the ingredients.. It does sound nice though! I preferred the idea of a more solid lemon layer as opposed to the gooey smitten kitchen lemon layer.



Rustic Lemonhead Oat Bars
Lemon Bars

My version:

Base 
170g butter, room temperature (tip #1 do not attempt to speed this up by putting it into the oven and forgetting about it.. WAIT IT OUT)
1/2 cup caster sugar (I was supposed to use 3/4 of this amount but forgot.. oops)
1 1/2 cups plain flour
Tiny pinch of salt



1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a pan with baking paper (mine is about 7x11x2 inches)
1. Cream the butter and sugar with wooden spoon or mixer with paddle attachment until light (tip #2 do not use an ordinary electric mixer for this, especially if the butter has not completely reached room temperature yet. All you will achieve is two beaters packed with butter that ain't going anywhere)
2. Combine flour and salt and then add to the butter mixture. Mix with the mixer on low or use hands until just combined.

3. Press evenly into prepared pan (should reach about 1/2 an inch up the sides) and chill for about 5 minutes (the original recipe didn't specify how long it was supposed to be chilled)
4. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until light brown, rotating half way through if necessary.
5. Let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Lemon layer
400ml light coconut milk
1/2 cup caster sugar (you will want more unless you like extreme sourness - 1 cup for me next time)
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tbsp lemon zest (about 3 lemons)
1 cup lemon juice (about 4 lemons)

1. Combine coconut milk, sugar, cornflour and lemon zest in a medium saucepan and whisk until cornflour has completely dissolved.
2. Place pan over a medium heat and bring to a gentle boil, whisking the whole time. Continue whisking until the mixture begins to thicken and then remove from the heat, but continue whisking.
3. Add the lemon juice and whisk for a further 3 minutes.
4. Leave to cool completely (I left it about 2 hours. Probably should have waited another hour or so as it was still slightly warm). It will thicken further as it cools.


Combining
1. Pour lemon mixture onto the base and chill until set. After about 4 hours it still wasn't set so left it overnight.
2. Sprinkle the top with icing sugar if desired. Slice into squares and enjoy.

Okay, so I crossed out the lemon layer recipe because it just didn't work for me. I'm not sure what went wrong.. it may have something to do with mixing in the cornstarch and thickening it on the stove incorrectly. It just wouldn't set in the fridge basically. It was also way too sour for my tastebuds. So I scraped it off.. the base was still good so I  used another lemon layer recipe from joy of baking.


Successful lemon layer

1 cup (200g) caster sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup (80ml) fresh lemon juice (about two large lemons)
1 tbsp (5g) finely grated lemon zest
2 tbsp (25g) plain flour, sifted

1.Beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth with an electric beater or hand beater.

2. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to combine. 

 

 

 

3. Fold in the flour until no lumps remain. 

4. Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling has set. 

5. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool (don't know what caused those spots).

 

 

6. Dust icing over the top and enjoy! Store in the fridge.

 

Verdict: Much better! More palatable; sweet yet still quite lemony. Quite nice with a scoop of ice cream.

Next: contemplating attempting souffles or macarons.