Decadent Gluten Free Lemon Bars
Servings 16 small 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.
Notes
This recipe is adapted from Alanna Taylor-Tobin's (The Bojon Gourmet) Meyer Lemon Bars With Vanilla-Almond Crust as seen in her Alternative Baker cookbook.