Sunday, December 23, 2012

Day 12 Of The Rosiethon. Ultimate Lemon Butter Bars.

 My Rosiethon posts will be coming
several times a day now to get the recipes
to you before Christmas.

Happy baking!


Pucker up.

Today is Day 12 of the Rosiethon
and I'm making the Ultimate Lemon-Butter Bars.
A shortbread base is topped with a luscious lemon curd.

Ultimate Lemon-Butter Bars

Shortbread base:
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter
2 TB confectioners' sugar
2 TB granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups flour

Lemon curd topping:
4 egg yolks 3/4 cups sugar
juice of 3 large lemons
1/4 cup butter, softened
dash salt
1 TB lemon zest
confectioners' sugar

For the shortbread:
Whisk sugars together in large bowl.
Add butter and cream until light and fluffy.
Mix in flour until incorporated.

Line a greased 8 x 8 pan with buttered foil.
Pat dough evenly in pan.
Use a fork to pierce dough all over.
Bake at 325 degrees about 40-45 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and top is pale golden.

For the topping:
Beat yolks in heavy saucepan until well blended.  
Stir in lemon juice, butter, and salt.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until thickened, resembling hollandaise sauce.
It should thickly coat a wooden spoon but still be pourable.
A candy thermometer should register 196 degrees.
Do not allow the mixture to boil or it will curdle.
Stir in zest.

When shortbread is baked, remove from oven and reduce temperature to 300 degrees.
Pour lemon curd over shortbread and bake 10 more minutes.
Cool in pan on rack, then chill a couple of hours before cutting.
Sprinkle confectioners' sugar over top, coating entirely.


Mix the two sugars.

Give the chilled butter a tiny dice and ...
... add to sugars.


Mix well.

Add in flour.

Incorporate well.

Add shortbread mix to prepared pan.

Cover with plastic and roll out evenly.

Pierce with fork.

Bake until light golden brown.

On to the lemon curd topping:

In a heavy saucepan,
add eggs and sugar.

Beat well.

Stir in lemon juice, ...

... butter, and salt.

Whisk constantly over medium low heat
until thermometer registers 196 degrees
and mixture resembles hollandaise.

Grated lemon zest.

Stir in zest.

Pour lemon curd over shortbread base.

 Reduce heat to 300 degrees
and bake 10 minutes.

Let cool.

 Sprinkle powdered sugar over top.









This recipe called for 4 egg yolks.
Now I have four egg whites leftover.
Stay tuned for Coconut Cranberry Macaroons
which happens to call for four egg whites.

In case you missed them:
Day 11 -  Praline Cookies
Day 8 at Outer Banks Voice -   Turtle Brownies
Day 9  -  Apricot Almond Biscotti 
Day 9  Mocha Toffee Cashew Bars





1 comment:

Marilyn said...

Ooh, this is the recipe the Foodie Boyfriend has been waiting for most impatiently.