Almond cookie crust topped with an incredibly decadent sunshiny layer of lemon curd and a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar make me undoubtedly want to say, “yes please!”. With afternoon tea, with coffee, heck, even with breakfast these lemony treats are hard to resist.
Create these bars in three easy layers. First up is the gluten free almond cookie crust made by cutting the cold butter into the flours, sugar and salt. You will know your cookie crust dough is thoroughly mixed when it looks like very coarse meal, you still see some nice chunks of butter and it should hold together if you squeeze a bit of dough between your fingers. Dump mixture into an 8″x8″ pan lined with parchment paper and tamp down crust into an even layer. I like to use the back of a measuring cup for this step, it’s super helpful in creating an even layer and especially good at creating even edges. Pop this layer in the oven and let it bake for about 20-25 minutes.
In the meantime, start the prep for the lemon curd! This will include zesting a lemon or two, juicing several lemons (3-5 depending on how juicy they are), dicing up 1 stick of butter and separating a couple of eggs. Lucky me, I had my sweet niece here and willing to prep, bake, test and be photographed!
This is one of those recipes where it’s really imperative to have all the ingredients prepped and ready to grab when you need them. So, pretend like you are on your own private cooking show and line up everything you will need, including a medium saucepan with thermometer attached and having a sieve and a bowl to strain the cooked curd.
At this point if you are feeling a slight rise in blood pressure realizing this recipe calls for use of a thermometer….let me assure you, YOU CAN DO THIS! It’s no big deal! Heat the eggs, sugar and lemon juice in the saucepan over medium low heat, and here is the important part…..continually stir the mixture (remembering to fully scrape the bottom, sides and corners of the pan so that it heats evenly) over the next 5-10 minutes, or until the temperature on the thermometer reaches 160 degrees F. You will notice both the texture and the color of the curd change from beginning to end, with the final texture being thick, fairly opaque and bright yellow color.
Once the curd hits the 160 degrees mark, remove from heat and pass through sieve (this helps to strain out any cooked egg white) and then immediately stir in butter and lemon zest. Perfect! Layer two is now complete! Pour curd over warm crust and pop back into the oven for another 20ish minutes.
After the bars are baked and cooled, it’s time for layer number three, the all important powdered sugar!!
Using the parchment paper, gently pull bars out of the baking pan, cut into squares and serve! They will last up to about 3 days stored in the refrigerator so gobble them up while they are fresh!
Decadent Gluten Free Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Almond Cookie Crust
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill 1 for 1 Flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Lemon Curd
- 8 tablespoons butter, diced
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest (1-2 lemons)
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed (4-5 lemons)
- Powdered Sugar for Dusting
Instructions
Almond Cookie Crust
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line an 8”x8” baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil, ensuring there is enough hanging over the edges to help easily remove bars from pan after baking.
- In a medium bowl mix together flours, sugar and salt. Cut in diced butter until mixture looks like coarse meal, there are still chunks of butter visible and mixture will cling together when a small amount of dough is squished in your fingers. Stir in vanilla.
- Dump mixture into prepared pan and tamp down (I like to use the back of a measuring cup) to create an even layer.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until crust begins to smell fragrant and toasty and looks just slightly browned. Remove from oven and lower temperature to 325° F.
Lemon Curd
- Have lemon zest and diced butter set aside and ready for use. Also have a medium bowl and fine mesh strainer out on the counter and ready to strain the curd as soon as it is cooked.
- In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan (with thermometer attached) whisk together eggs, egg yolks and sugar to combine. Whisk in lemon juice and turn heat to medium-low. Using a silicone spatula gently and continuously stir the mixture as it heats and thickens, being mindful to scrape the bottom, sides and corners of the pan to ensure the mixture is cooking evenly. Heat until curd reaches 160 degrees, which should take about 5-10 minutes. (You will notice the curd thickening as you stir and the color becoming an opaque bright yellow, almost neonish hue.)
- Immediately remove from heat and pour thickened yellow curd through sieve to remove any cooked egg whites. (Remember to scrape underside of sieve to capture all of the lemony goodness!).
- Stir diced butter and zest into curd.
- Pour over baked Almond Cookie Crust and bake for an additional 18-25 minutes. You will know the bars are baked when the sides look baked and maybe slightly puffed, but the center still has a slight wobblyJell-O kind of texture. If it looks watery in the middle it needs a bit more baking time and try to avoid a puffed and cracked center, which indicates and over-baked bar.
- Remove from oven and cool on counter for at least 30 minutes. Then pop the pan of bars into the refrigerator to cool down and firm up for at least 2-3 hours.
- When ready to cut bars, using the side flaps of the parchment paper or aluminum foil, gently pull bars out of pan and onto a cutting board. Sift powdered sugar generously over the top (if desired)and cut into 16 bars.
- Keep bars in the refrigerator, they are best eaten within a couple of days.