Recipe for Lemon Bars With Shortbread Base and White Chocolate Coating
Lemon Bars
Lemon bars are really simple to make and are the perfect accompaniment to a good cup of afternoon tea. There are lots of different ways to make them but the recipe I have opted for here uses a shortbread base, a creamy lemon filling and a white chocolate coating which is heavenly with the lemon flavour. I haven't made this too tangy but, if you're a fan of that sharp lemon taste and want a real contrast to the creaminess of the white chocolate, you could add a little more lemon juice and zest to the recipe. Just remember to taste as you add more lemon - you don't want to end up with something bitter and inedible.
Cook Time, including time for cooling
Prep time: 4 hours 30 min
Ready in: 4 hours 30 min
Yields: 12-16 bars
A useful baking mold for this recipe
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups flour, all-purpose
- 1/4 cup caster / superfine sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cups unsalted butter, cold
- pinch salt
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup heavy / double cream
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 14 oz white chocolate
Lemon and White Chocolate Bars
- First you need to pre-heat the oven to 325 F /160 C and prepare your baking tin by greasing and flouring it. I use a baking pan with individual squares for making tray bakes, but you could just as easily use a deep rectangular baking tray. Just remember that you may need to adjust your cooking time.
- Put the flour, sugar and pinch of salt into the bowl of a food processor, preferably with steel blade attachment - you could also prepare the dough by hand. Pulse until everything is combined. Now, take your butter, straight from the refrigerator and cut into cubes, adding a little to the flour and sugar mix at a time and pulsing. Once you have added in all the butter, continue to pulse the food processor until the dough comes together, forming a ball which comes away from the sides of the bowl.
- Take chunks of the dough and press into the bottom of the individual moulds in your baking pan, or into the bottom of a single sheet pan. You want a thickness of around 1/2 inch. Prick the dough and put into the oven.
- After 5 minutes, reduce the heat of the oven to 300 F / 150 C and continue to bake for 25 minutes until light golden brown.
- While the shortbread is baking, prepare the filling. First, beat the eggs and sugar together until you have a pale and frothy liquid. Add in the lemon juice and zest and mix well. Now add the cream and mix until everything is well incorporated and the filling begins to thicken slightly.
- When the shortbread is ready, remove from the oven and pour a little of the lemon filling on top of it. Return to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the filling has firmed up - it should still wobble a little. It's ok if the top browns a little, but you don't want it to burn, so it's best to check it after 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tray. When completely cooled, remove the shortbread and lemon bars from the tray, taking care not to break them up. If you have made this in one big sheet, carefully cut into slices of the desired size.
- Now, break your white chocolate up into pieces and carefully melt in the microwave. It is very important to keep an eye on the chocolate as it is melting - it will burn very quickly if you're not careful. I tend to give it a 20 second burst in the microwave before removing and stirring. Then, if more time is needed to melt the chocolate completely, I return it to the microwave for 10 seconds at a time, checking and stirring after each brief burst.
- When the chocolate has melted completely, stir with a fork for a minute or so to ensure it is completely smooth. Pour over the lemon bars. I don't tend to fuss over this too much as I like the chocolate a bit uneven but you could smooth it over with a spatula if you're aiming for something a bit neater.
- When all of the bars are coated in chocolate, refrigerate until ready to serve. These bars will last quite nicely for 2-3 days.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: per portion, based on 12 portions | |
| Calories | 583 |
| Calories from Fat | 405 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Fat 45 g | 69% |
| Saturated fat 28 g | 140% |
| Unsaturated fat 17 g | |
| Carbohydrates 39 g | 13% |
| Sugar 30 g | |
| Protein 5 g | 10% |
| Cholesterol 122 mg | 41% |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
