Oh.My.Goodness.Gracious.

I’m being polite, here, because what I really want to do is shout expletives – in the nicest way possible, of course.   I have just had the best lemon bar I have ever had.  And they were sooooo easy to make!

Thank You David Lebovitz!

I’ve been a fan for years, but it was not until our friend Ann sent me a copy of his book The Sweet Life in Paris – that I really began to understand the person behind the recipes.  He’s a hoot!  An extremely talented hoot.

I’ve always loved to bake and, while I will never be a Chef de pâtisserie, I’ve knocked a couple out of the ballpark in my day…

So off to his website I went…  My original thought was a lemon cake with a lemon curd filling.  Making the lemon cake isn’t difficult, but I decided I needed to see what else was out there.

I really enjoy David’s writing style so I read a few posts, looked at a few pictures, and then typed in the word “lemon” in the search box.  The very first result was Whole Lemon Bars. I immediately knew it was what I was going to make.

I looked through several other recipes – I really do want to make some Moroccan Preserved Lemons to have on hand – but it was back to Recipe Number One.  The cake idea was gone.

I cannot say enough about these.

I am actually fighting myself to keep from heading back into the kitchen for more.  They are seriously that good.

Here’s the recipe – adapted from David Lebovitz…

David Leboviz’s Lemon Bars

Crust

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Topping

  • 1 organic lemon
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 4 tsp corn starch
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp melted unsalted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350º.

2. Line an 8″ square pan with foil.

3. Mix flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup melted butter, and vanilla, in a medium bowl, stirring just until smooth.

4. Smooth the batter into the bottom of the pan getting it as level as possible.

5. Bake the crust for 25 minutes, or until it’s deep-golden brown.

6. While the crust is cooking, slice the lemon, remove the seeds, and cut the lemon into chunks.

7. Put the chunks of lemon in a food processor or blender along with the sugar and lemon juice, and let it run until the lemon is completely broken up. Add the eggs, corn starch, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tbsp melted butter and blend until almost smooth.

8. When the crust comes out of the oven, reduce the heat of the oven to 300º. Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling is barely set.

9. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once cool, carefully lift out the bars grasping the foil. Cut the bars into squares or rectangles. Sift powdered sugar over the top just before serving, if desired.

This is one of those situations where you just don’t improve perfection.  There is nothing I could add, no trick or tweak, to improve upon these.

Unless it was a dollop of whipped lemon cream on top.

Not a lot… Just a tad…