This is the lemon bar of your childhood..tender, buttery, melt in your mouth crust, lemony bur sweet filling, and topped with a snowfall of powdered sugar. I love them and if I were being nostalgic or feeding a room full of kids, this is the bar ncookie I would make. But we all grow up, our taste change, we get a little bolder and crave a twist to childhood favorites. Luckily I found a “grown-up” version, Alice Medrich’s Lemon Bars to bake. A crisp, buttery crust and filling with enough lemon to make your tastebuds pucker up, so good.
There is absolutely no reason you can’t have both! If you’re feeling like a kid bake this version, if you’re feeling hipster-ish and sassy, bake Alice’s version, Lemon Bars with attitude.
When I am in a hurry I will make the crust for these bars in my food processor. Put flour and powdered sugar in FP bowl. Pulse to combine. Add butter (if you use unsalted butter add a pinch of salt) and pulse until it looks like powdery, loose crumbs. It should not come together. Pour the mixture into an 8×8 pan and press evenly. Don’t worry, it won’t look like dough, but will bake into a tender lovely crust.
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. I have used just lemons, a combination of lemons and limes (2/3:1/3), Meyer lemons and oranges. Experiment!
Imperative to pour the filling on a hot crust which helps set the filling. The filling will keep baking after it comes out so a slight center jiggle is ok when you take it out of the oven.
Kid tested-Kid approved version of Lemon Bars. Tender, buttery crust with a sweet, citrusy lemon curd topping. A classic from the SF Chronicle Food section.
Course bar cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword bar cookies, Dessert, lemon, Lemon Bars
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Servings 16squares
Ingredients
Shortbread crust
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
Filling:
1 cup sugar
2 T flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 T lemon juice
2 teaspoon lemon zest, finely grated
2 large eggs
Instructions
Adjust the rack in the lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 or 9 inch square pan.
To make crust: Briefly blend the flour and sugar in a medium bowl to combine. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles oatmeal. Using your fingertips, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until pale golden.
To make filling: Whisk flour, sugar and baking powder together. Blend eggs, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients and blend until thoroughly combined. Pour filling over partially baked crust and bake 25 minutes. Cool, sprinkle powdered sugar over top and cut into bars.
Options: Can add additional 1/2 T lemon juice or substitute 1/3 of juice with orange or lime juice and zest. Cut down on baking time ( 25 minutes to 15-20 minutes depending on pan size.)
Soft Gingerbread Tiles with Rum Butter Glaze: Day 6, 12 Days of Cookies!
My kitchen gadget addiction got the best of me yet again. The culprit? A beautiful holiday cookie from Ottolenghi’s latest book, Sweet, Soft Gingerbread Tiles with Rum Butter Glaze. The cookies are made with either an embossed rolling pin (which I purchased to make graham crackers not so long ago) or cookie stamps holiday or all season, which I had to have. After my cookie stamps arrived I immediately set out to make these.
The dough is a snap to make. The aroma that filled my kitchen while they baked made me smile. The cookies are soft, cakey and spicy. Just like a classic gingerbread cookie.
The recipe calls for blackstrap molasses which is the last extraction of sugar from sugarcane. It’s pretty bitter. The first extraction produces cane syrup (like Golden Syrup), the next produces molasses and the final extraction, with even less sugar left, produces blackstrap molasses. I wanted to be faithful to the recipe so I used blackstrap molasses. The cookies are not very sweet at all. I learned that regular molasses is about 70% sugar whereas blackstrap is about 40%, BIG difference. I plan on trying this recipe with both cane syrup and regular molasses just for the added sweetness.
The most difficult part of the recipe is stamping the cookies. During baking, the cookies will rise and the pattern blurs a bit so be sure to press the cookies well so the imprint is really bold and defined in the dough.
I tried two methods for stamping the cookies. For the first method, the dough is rolled into a sheet about 1/4 inch thick, stamped and cut out with a round cookie cutter. For the second method, the do/ugh is rolled into a ball (about 1.5-2 tablespoons of dough) which is then pressed with the stamp to create a cookie. Both methods worked well.
I love the rum butter glaze. It was really easy to put together and added a sheen and sweetness/flavor to the cookie. Though I brushed the glaze on, I think dipping the cookie or spreading the glaze with a spatula would make a nicer finish. The cookie does need to be warm when glazing.
These cookies are a showstopper. I can’t wait to bake another batch.
Gingerbread Tiles with Butter Rum Icing: Day 6, 12 Days of Cookies!
A delicious and festive gingerbread with rum glaze from Ottolenghi
Course cookies, sweets
Cuisine American, British
Keyword gingerbread, holidays, ottolenghi, Peanut and Bittersweet Chocolate Cookie
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Ingredients
Dough: Da Wet Mix
6tbsp85 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3packed cup plus 2 tbsp90 g dark brown sugar
1/4cup100 g blackstrap molasses (can substitute golden syrup or reg molasses 1:1 for sweeter cookie)
1large egg yolk*
Da Dry MIx
1 3/4cupsplus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour (235 gms) plus extra for pressing
1tbspDutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2tspbaking soda
1tspground ginger
1/2tspground cinnamon
1/8tspground cloves
1/4tspsalt
1/4tspfreshly ground black pepper
Rum-Butter Glaze:
2/3cup80 g confectioners' sugar
1/8tspground cinnamon
1tbsp15 g unsalted butter, melted and warm
1tbspdark rumor lemon juice
1tspwarm water
*On Food52 it was suggested to use extra-large egg yolk or add 1 teaspoon-1 tablespoon of water to dough if it doesn't come together. I added about 1 teaspoon water. It won't come together until you knead it). Makes 12–14 depending on the size of stamp and cutter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C.
Place the butter, sugar and molasses in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment in place.
Beat on medium speed until smooth and incorporated. Add the egg yolk and continue to beat until fully combined.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt and pepper into a bowl. Turn the speed of the mixer to low, and add the dry ingredients to the butter and molasses. Once the mix comes together, tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Forming Cookies: Rolling dough
Roll out the dough so that it is about 1/4 inch/ 0.5 cm thick. If the dough is very soft, you will need to chill it.*
Dip cookie stamp in a small bowl of flour, shake off any excess, then press them firmly into the dough, one at a time to create a deep imprint. How far you need to press to get an imprint will depend on your stamp; the patterns on some are more deeply cut than others. Bear in mind that the cookies rise a little when cooked, so any soft imprints will disappear.
Using a round cookie cutter that is slightly larger than the pattern, cut out the pieces of imprinted gingerbread. Transfer the cookies to the lined baking sheets, spaced about 3/4 inch/2 cm apart. Reroll the dough and continue to stamp and cut cookies until all the dough is used up.
Stamping Cookies: No Rolling
I also tried instructions from the cookie stamps, roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball and flatten with cookie stamp. With both methods, make sure you press firmly enough to create a bold definite pattern in dough!
Bake for 9–10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until firm to the touch. They will continue to firm up as they cool, so don’t be tempted to bake them for any longer.
Rum Glaze
Make the rum butter glaze while the gingerbreads are in the oven, as the glaze needs to be brushed onto the cookies while they are still warm.
Sift the confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl. Add the melted butter, rum (or lemon juice) and water and mix with a spoon until smooth. The glaze will thicken slightly if it sits around, if so stir a little more warm water in if you need—it should be the consistency of runny honey.
Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them to cool for 5 minutes, then brush or dab the glaze all over with a pastry brush. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
If you want to keep the glaze booze-free, the rum in the icing can be replaced with lemon juice.Make-Ahead: Once the dough is made, it can be covered in plastic wrap and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking.Storage: These will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container. The glaze will discolor and crack a little, but this will not affect how they taste.
