- Today, I'm sharing with you the perfect recipe
for spring and summer and that's lemon bars.
These are the perfect sweet treat
for picnics and spring brunches
and my version of lemon bars
have a gluten-free shortbread like crust
and a luscious, very lemony filling
that is the perfect balance of sweet and tangy.
I can assure you that if you don't tell anyone
that they're gluten-free and dairy-free
that they'll never know
because these healthy lemon bars taste just as good
as their classic counterpart.
So let me show you how to make 'em.
To get started, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
and line an eight inch square pan with parchment paper.
The easy way to line your pan
is just to press the parchment paper in all scrunchy like
but if you want perfectly smooth edges on your lemon bars,
I'll show you a little trick.
Just cut your piece of parchment paper
a few inches bigger than the base of your pan.
I've cut mine to 12 inches square
then place the pan on top
in the middle of your parchment paper
and use a pencil to draw around it.
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Place the pan off to the side
and then use a pair of scissors
to cut from each corner of the parchment paper
to each corner of your pencil drawing
and then place the parchment paper inside the pan.
Where you've made those slits in the parchment paper,
the corners will fold over onto themselves
but if they get a little twisted, you can help them.
It's just one flap on top of the other flap and that's it.
Now you've got your pan nicely lined with parchment paper
and you won't have any wonky ruffled edges
on your lemon bars.
I'm using my typical triumvirate of flowers in this recipe
which includes almond flour, tapioca flour and coconut flour
and they each serve a very different purpose
both in the crust and in the filling.
The almond flour will form the bulk of the shortbread crust
and it provides a delicious texture and flavor.
The coconut flour is also used in the crust
and because it's highly absorbent,
it helps to ensure the crust stays together and not too soft
and then tapioca flour is used in the filling for structure
and it's super fine texture
means it just melts right in undetectable.
All right, so let's make the base crust of the lemon bars.
You'll need one third cup coconut oil,
a quarter cup of honey or maple syrup
and one teaspoon of vanilla extract
and I am now out of vanilla.
Whisk those three ingredients together
so that the vanilla extract is blended throughout the honey
and now for the dry ingredients.
You'll add one and a half cups of almond flour,
one third cup of coconut flour
and a quarter teaspoon of salt
then stir that all together until you have a crumbly dough.
You can use a spoon to stir this together but to be honest,
it's much easier to just dig in with your hands
so that's what I usually do
to make sure that it gets well combined.
Once that's done,
you can pour it into your parchment lined pan.
Spread it out into a flat layer while it's still crumbly
then press down on it with your hands to flatten it out.
You really wanna get this nice and flat
so press down firmly and all the way into the corners.
I'll usually use the palm of my hands
to make sure it's pressed down
and compacted as much as possible
because that will ensure I've got a nice
stable shortbread base for the filling
that won't fall apart.
Prebake the base on its own in the oven
for about 13 to 15 minutes
or until it's slightly golden on top
and a little bit more golden around the edges.
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While the base is prebaking,
you can make the lemon curd filling
and that starts with half a cup of honey or maple syrup
and four large eggs.
After testing this recipe a few times,
I do wanna reiterate that the order
in which you mix the filling ingredients does matter
so don't just toss everything into the bowl all at once.
When you whisk just the honey and eggs together,
you ensure that the egg is completely blended
and you won't end up with little egg white speckles
on the top of your lemon bars.
Next, zest one large lemon.
This will give you about a tablespoon of lemon zest
or just slightly under that.
Now, as I mentioned at the beginning,
these lemon bars are truly very lemony
so if you find it's a bit too much for you,
you can always reduce the amount of lemon zest in the future
and then juice that lemon along with a couple of others
until you've got half a cup of lemon juice.
I do wanna reiterate to use fresh lemon juice here
and not bottled lemon juice.
There is no comparison in flavor between fresh and bottled
and since these lemon bars are all about fresh lemon flavor,
don't skimp on that.
So pour the lemon zest and lemon juice into the bowl
and then whisk that together again until it's smooth.
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The last ingredient in the filling
is three tablespoons of tapioca flour.
I did try a lesser amount of coconut flour in the filling
and didn't like the texture as much
and almond flour will be too gritty
so I do recommend tapioca flour here
and just whisk that into the lemon curd until it's smooth.
All right, it's been 15 minutes
and you can see that the base has puffed up a bit.
That's totally normal.
When you remove it from the oven, just press it back down
and try not to burn your fingers as I'm sort of doing.
You can use a kitchen towel
or oven mitt to press it flat again.
You don't wanna poke the base with a fork
to prevent puffing though
because then otherwise the filling will seep through.
So pour the filling straight on top of the hot base
and then transfer it back into the oven.
It's obviously very liquidy at this stage
so do be careful moving the pan back into the oven
and then cook it for 20 to 25 minutes.
When it's done, remove it from the oven
and double check that it's cooked long enough.
It should be pretty firm throughout and not overly jiggly,
sort of like firm jello.
I undercooked one of my first batches
by just a couple of minutes
and then the filling stayed overly soft
and never really set up when it was cooled
which meant that I couldn't stack the bars
or take them with me
but today, mine is looking perfect
and that white that you see on top
is just foam bubbles from whisking.
Leave the lemon bars on the counter for an hour
to let them cool completely at room temperature
and then once they're cooled, place them in the fridge
for a couple of hours to firm up even more.
All right, these lemon bars are now ready to be sliced into.
You can easily pull up on the parchment paper
to remove the lemon bars from the pan
and then fold down the edges of the parchment paper.
Because I know the parchment paper
is going to block your view today while I'm cutting,
I'll very carefully slide the parchment paper
out from underneath
and voila, there's my block of lemon bars
which aren't quite lemon bars just yet.
You can of course slice these as is.
You don't need to add anything to them but if you'd like,
you can sprinkle a little bit of powdered sugar on top
or in my case, a little bit more
than a little bit of powdered sugar.
I just wanted to make sure you could all see it on camera.
Take a large chef's knife and slice through the block
to create nine lemon bars.
The center will likely still be a little bit sticky
so if you want perfectly cut lemon bars,
I do recommend you wipe your knife between each slice.
Just a little bit of goop on your knife
does make the next slice not quite as pretty as the first
but if you don't care about pretty and just wanna dig in,
I totally understand that as well
and then when you're done,
you can flip one of those gluten-free lemon bars around
and take a look at that perfect luscious texture
on the inside.
Your crust should be nice and firm and not falling apart
and your filling should be soft yet holding its shape.
I've eaten a couple batches of these lemon bars
over the last few weeks
and I can honestly say they're like sunshine on a plate.
They're perfectly sweet and just make you happy.
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You can find all of the tips I've shared today
as well as the printable recipe over on my website
and I'll link to that below
but I can't wait to see you guys make this recipe.
If you enjoyed today's video,
make sure to give it a thumbs up,
share it with your family and friends
and I will see you again in the next video.
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