When Life Gives You Lemons, Make.... LEMON BARS

                          This is the year we finally got lemons on our lemon tree- lots of lemons

Small new lemon tree at top right

     Dean planted it in front of our house 5 years ago to replace a gnarled old tree that he despised.

For 3 years we had no lemons. Then last year one lone lemon appeared and was promptly stolen 

This year I can pick lemons to my hearts content and finally make the lemon bars I have been craving with my own lemons. My lemons are Eurekas, which I prefer to the sweeter Meyer lemons (a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange). I adore the puckery, citrus taste and  bright yellow hue of a Eureka. Above, two freshly picked lemons rest on a ceramic plate - a precious souvenir from a trip to Puglia

The lemon bar suggestion actually came from my brother Tom when we were talking bars right before Thanksgiving. This was long before we had any blossoms on our lemon tree. My brother lives not far from NYC in the small town of Allendale, NJ and we communicate sporadically by phone. His wife's daughter Chryssa had just baked a pan of pumpkin blondies with chocolate and pecans for him and he was raving about them. The recipe was featured in the New York Times Food Section and he insisted that I make them for Thanksgiving. He added that I should then try Lanis's lemon bars. I didn't get around to making the blondies for awhile, but when I did I was impressed. They are unbelievably scrumptious!

Pumpkin blondies with chocolate and pecans are a fall favorite

Lanis, my brother's wife, was a prolific gardener, a talented painter and an outstanding baker. She excelled at whatever she did. Tragically, she was felled by a fatal stroke while speaking at her Bergen County garden club a year and a half ago. She was a healthy, active 76 year old, so her sudden death was a shock to everyone. 

In the aftermath of her death, Lanis's daughters Chryssa and Mary put together an ingenious booklet of their mother's recipes. They included facsimiles of the spattered, yellowing recipe cards with Lanis's  notes and had it bound into a delightful package which they distributed to family and friends. I was lucky enough to receive a copy. Here is the touching preface to the book:

"Mom had many talents, one of which was her incredible knack for baking mouthwatering desserts, cakes, cookies and breakfast treats. Many of our memories center around these baked goods and will forever bring a  smile to our faces. We hope that you enjoy this compilation of favorite recipes which have been well loved and written all over by Mom... Love Chryssa and Mary"

A page with an an old recipe card handwritten by Lanis

The recipe in Lanis's  book seemed like a good place to try my hand at lemon bars. Unexpectedly, I had trouble right from the start. The crust ingredients didn't come together in the food processor so the mixture was too floury and not crumbly enough. It still wouldn't amalgamate  properly when I pressed it into the pan, plus the 9" pan was too big for the small amount of shortbread crumbs, creating a crust that was too fragile.  I proceeded nonetheless and baked it at 325 as noted. After 20 minutes the layer wasn't browned so I turned up the oven and baked it 10 minutes more. Meanwhile I made the excellent lemon topping, but when I poured it over the hot pastry, the result was a filling that wasn't substantial enough for my taste. An 8" pan would have done the trick. Unfortunately, on the whole, I was disappointed with the recipe.

So began my deep dive into the land of lemon bars. Searching for the perfect bar, I found as many variations as bakers who make them. The lemon topping variables consist of the amount of lemon juice to sugar, the number of eggs, the size of the pan and the (small) amount of flour or even cornstarch added. I discovered that the more recent the recipe, the more tart the filling.

The press-in crust, which makes up an important half of the bar, seems to always consist of flour, butter and sugar but differs in the method of mixing the ingredients. Lanis et al. cut cold butter into flour with a food processor, Ina Garten used a mixer, and David Lebovitz melted butter and mixed it in by hand. The pan could be metal or ceramic and varied in dimensions from 9 x 9  to  8 x 8 to 9 x 13. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that the baking temperature varies from 300 to 350 degrees.

                    Lemon bars with an under baked shortbread crust from Sally's Baking Addiction blog

                                                                s                                                                     

                                    Ina Garten's typically delicious Lemon Bars on the Food Network

                         An example of squares with a pale, thin crust, from The Preppy Kitchen Blog

           Finally I struck gold with a recipe by David Lebovitz, using a whole lemon ground in a food processor

David's bars sport a rich dark buttery crust, made by blending flour with melted butter, which is easily pressed into an 8 " pan, and baked at 350. His are the best lemon bars yet, avoiding both flabby, pale crusts and the thin, anemic filling that I dislike in other recipes. The whole ground lemon gives the filling a powerful zing. Here is his ingredient list, meant to be baked in an 8" pan. For full directions check out his blog post here: David's Whole Lemon Bars

Crust

• 1 cup (140g) flour
• 1/4 cup (50g) sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (115g) melted unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Topping

• 1 lemon, organic or unsprayed
• 1 cup (200g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons (45ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 4 teaspoons corn starch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons (45g) melted unsalted butter
• Optional: powdered sugar, for serving

               

My rendition of whole lemon bars ready to be taken out of the oven

But whether they're thick or thin, tart or sweet, I echo what Pat Prager, the prize winning baker, said in J. Ryan Stradal's delightful novel Kitchens of the Great Midwest: "Who Doesn't like bars?"