Hi Bold Bakers! Since the beginning of Bigger Bolder Baking, hands down one of the most
requested videos has been for lemon bars. Finally I'm happy to tell you that your wait
is over, I have a fantastic recipe for you. The written recipe can be found on my website,
BiggerBolderBaking.com with hundreds of other recipes so make sure you go over there and
check them out. So into a nice large bowl, we’re going to add in some flour, powdered
sugar, and regular sugar. So this is a shortbread that we’re making so a really important
ingredient is yummy butter. Now for this recipe the butter doesn't want to be really cold,
have it at around room temperature, it'll make it so much easier to blend into the flour.
So then with nice clean hands go in there and rub the butter into the flour. Until you
get a nice soft dough that will form your shortbread. So the reason we add in two separate
sugars is for different texture. The sugar makes it a little bit granular and then the
powdered sugar makes it what we call ‘short’ which is really dry and crumbly. So once the
shortbread kinda clumps together in big clumps you can feel it get kind of wetter, it is
ready. So, here I have my little tin, this is an 8x8” and it’s been buttered and
lined, now I'm just gonna take my shortbread and press into the base of your tin. And then
with your hand just push it out into the base and make sure that it’s nice and level.
Well, as level as you can. Okay, lovely. That's our shortbread, now what you want to do before
we put it in the oven is we’re going to prick it with a fork, just to make sure that
it doesn't rise up. So just a few times on top, let the steam out. So now here's the
thing with this recipe, you want to bake your shortbread off in advance before we add on
the filling because you want to make sure that it is fully cooked. So right now we’re
gonna pop this into the oven. You a bake the shortbread off at 325ºF/160ºC for roughly
25 minutes or until a very light golden color. So while our base is in the oven, let's make
our filling. Now technically what this is, is somewhat of a lemon curd, it’s really
zesty and just delicious. So our first ingredient, ‘cause it’s a custard, is egg yolks. Now
if you don't eat eggs, unfortunately there is no substitute for this recipe because it’s
a really key ingredient. Next we’re gonna add in some sugar for sweetness, it’s also
going to counterbalance that lovely lemon juice, then our lemon juice, lots of lovely
lemon juice. Then some lemon zest. I absolutely adore lemon zest. It’s one of my favorites.
Then here I have some butter, it’s room temperature, it’s really soft, you just
want it to be soft enough so it can mix into the rest of the ingredients. And then lastly
I am gonna add a touch of vanilla, ‘cause I love a little vanilla in all my baking.
Then we’re just gonna whisk all of the ingredients together. This is a super easy recipe and
great for feeding a crowd, so if you've got friends coming over, or a party, this is always
without a doubt a fan favorite. So now you can probably see the reason your butter has
to be really soft, because it has to just blend in with all of the other ingredients.
So leave it out a room temperature for a few hours and it’ll be grand. Okay, lovely,
I'm gonna set this aside and let's check on our shortbread. Okay lovely, this is perfect,
now come here to me, I want you to see what it looks like when it’s done. You just want
it to be a very light golden brown color, you don't need it dark at all, just fully
cooked through. So this is perfect. Now, we have our base, we have our filling, and all
you want to do is just pour this straight on top. For that lovely lemon layer. Perfect.
You can already see we made these in no time and then once you taste them, I mean they're
out of this world. So now these guys are ready to be baked off. So bake your lemon bars off
325ºF/160ºC for roughly 40 minutes or until a light brown on top. So here we have our
lovely looking lemon bars, now as you can see they are lightly golden brown on top,
because they don't need a whole lot of baking, and then you see the sides bubbled up, that's
all our lovely lemon filling, these are gonna be absolutely gorgeous, right now I'm just
gonna set them over to the side, let them cool down, and then we’re gonna get them
out of the tin and cut them. So once your lemon bars have cooled down slightly, just
go ahead and lift them carefully out of the tin, once they're cooled down they're so much
easier to cut. And then what we’re going to do is because I like to be generous, I'm
going to cut these into 9 squares. So across, and across. I can already feel how thick these
are, I'm excited to see them. So now traditionally lemon bars are always finished with a little
bit of powdered sugar on top and it just makes them look really pretty. So I'm gonna generously
dust them with the sugar, all over. Now if you want to cut these a little bit smaller
you totally can, that's up to you. Gorgeous. Now let’s lift one out and have a look.
As you can see I like to do nice big slices. Okay! So, full disclosure, this is my first
time making lemon bars, and I've never even eaten one before. I’ve never had a lemon
bar but all the requests that have come in, I've never eaten one and I have to say without
a doubt, this might be my favorite lemon dessert that I've made. The filling is so thick and
you've got that lovely shortbread on the bottom, it’s sweet and tangy at the same time, without
a doubt I'm gonna be making these again. So you know my rule, if you make this recipe
then rate it on my website. I hope you enjoyed this episode, hand on my heart, I really did
because they were absolutely delicious, I’ll see you back here really soon for more Bigger
Bolder Baking.