Easy Lemon Bars

The juice of 4 medium lemons will make about ⅔ cup of juice. There is some improvement with real fresh lemon juice, so use them if you have them.

A medium lemon will have 2 ½ to 3 tablespoons of juice, so use four medium lemons for the ⅔ cup of juice.

Add some lemon zest for more taste–about two tablespoons will do.

I usually don't have fresh lemons on hand, so the bottle of good quality lemon juice comes to the rescue. I have had issues with generic lemon juice, so pick a brand you trust.

The second advantage of bottled lemon juice is that this becomes a complete pantry recipe with ingredients I always have on hand.

Sure, you can get other flavors by using orange or other juices.

To me, lemon bars are on a sweet shortbread crust. Just a simple butter, flour, and sugar crust to let the lemon filling be the star. It needs to be baked lightly to firm up before adding the lemon filling.

Sure, this is the Graham cracker crust from my cheesecake bars.

Crush 16 sheets of Graham crackers. Add ¼ cup powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter. Mix to combine. Melt 5 oz. butter and mix in well.

Press into the bottom of the properly prepared dish and run up the side about ¼ inch. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes to firm up.

The eggs and flour will hold the filling together, while the sugar and lemon juice add the taste. You may be tempted to adjust things but resist that temptation, or it may not set up well.

Anymore, I always use salted butter. If a recipe calls very specifically for unsalted and butter is the main feature of the recipe (like butter cookies), I would use unsalted.

If you only have unsalted, be sure to add a touch of salt. Things get very bland without salt.

I suggest glass and not metal due to sticking issues and possible metallic taste from metal.

The full recipe needs a 9X13 baking pan like a cake pan. A half recipe, which is what I usually will make, uses an 8X8 or 6X9 dish. A 9-inch round will also work.

Use parchment on the bottom and grease sides. You will still need to use a knife around the outside to remove it.

Helpful Tip: put a few dots of butter in the corners of the bottom of the pan will keep the parchment from shifting.

You can also use two crossed sheets of parchment that hang over the sides.

Please use the parchment paper, or you will be digging out your lemon bars and making a mess.

No, just whisk it all together until completely incorporated and pour on the baked crust—no need to cool the crust.

At 350°, right at 20 minutes. The center of the dish should be just set. Do not try the old toothpick test.

Cool for 1 hour at room temperature in the pan. It will still be slightly warm, and I like to dust with powdered sugar at this point.

Move to the refrigerator and cool 1 to 2 hours more before cutting.

No, the bars are okay for a few hours for serving but should otherwise be refrigerated.

They are good for 3 days air-tight. On the 4th day, they start to lose texture.

If you know you are freezing the bars, skip the dusting of powdered sugar. Cut into serving size and freeze for a few hours on a tray separated.

After the initial freeze, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then a freezer Zip-Lock bag. They should be good for 3-4 months.