Megan's (Hush Hush) Lemon Bars

Megan Yonak's Note:

The reason I say hush hush, is because if my mom knew I was giving this away, she would KILL me! These are BY FAR the most amazing lemon bars you will ever lay your tastebuds to... I am willing to bet my apron on it! :) Enjoy!!!

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 16

pastry crust

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

lemon filling

• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup bakers sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

frosting

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Adjust rack to middle.
2. For the first layer- mix butter, flour and powder sugar in mixing bowl, then pack in bottom on an 8 X 8 pan. Bake the crust for 15 minute.
3. Meanwhile- mix beaten eggs, lemon juice and rind.
4. In a seperate bowl, sift together sugar, flour, and baking powder.
5. Add the flour mixture slowly to the wet ingredients, mixing thoroughly but not overmixing.
6. Place lemon mixture onto baked crust and bake again at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.
7. For the frosting, mix all ingredients in a bowl and with a hand mixer, whip until smooth and creamy. This frosting is intended to be very thick. When i stick a spoon into the frosting and lift it up- it should be creamy, but not drip off at all -- So you may need to thicken by adding more powdered sugar.
8. Remove bars from oven and cool pan on wire rack, when cool- GENTLY frost with the icing. The icing should be a little warm- if you make it right before- it's going to be the perfect temp from all that whipping.
9. Refrigerate until served. Keep in fridge too- They taste amazing chilled- In fact, I have never NOT chilled them! (frosting does harden. Cut when removed from fridge.

Reviews

[A Good Thing]

We loved these bars...especially the crunchy crust at the bottom. (: I found myself eating slices of it before it had a chance to cool properly. Sorry, Megan...guess I don't always follow the directions too well...but I couldn't help myself. One bite led to another and before I knew it I had devoured my dessert before dinner was served. (: Thanks for posting this and...sssshhhh...I won't tell your momma. (;

[p.g.cher]

These were yummy, thanks! They were gobbled down in one sitting! I love how the lemon filling was not too tart or too sweet, and the base was so deliciously buttery. However, as my family doesn't like things too sweet, I used the same ingredients listed for your icing and made it into a light glaze.

[Shannon W.]

Wowee, these were good! These were not what I was expecting when I set out to make lemon bars but the finished product was a VERY pleasant and unexpected surprise! These are like lemon curd on a shortbread crust, topped with a yummy sweet lemon glaze. Truly amazing. A couple things: They taste MUCH better the next day. Leaving these in the refrigerator overnight allows the flavor to truly develop properly. And I preferred eating these chilled. I don’t think they’d be as fantastic eaten at room temperature. I doubled the icing and used about ½ of the extra icing, there was barely enough to go around with the one portion of icing. Plus, I thought it was better with a little extra icing: it really brought out the lemon flavor. Also, I cut these into small squares and placed each square into a paper candy/muffin cup. I think it is best presented in that way. Wonderful recipe! P.S. I am going to try to make these with lime instead of lemon next time. I am curious to see how that will turn out. Thanks Megan! You rock!