My first lemon bars

I associate lemon bars/squares with school bake sales but have you ever actually seen lemon bars at a school bake sale?  I remember (fondly) that school bake sales were all about Entenmann's fudge cakes and cupcakes when I was growing up in Brooklyn.  I never once saw lemon bars and, I know this might sound unlikely, I don't think I've ever eaten one!  Until now, that is...

I've had (and love) lemon tarts but not a basic lemon bar with shortbread crust and lemon curd topping that I can pick up with my hands and devour.  Although I have to ask...is it still lemon curd when there's no butter and you add flour to it?

I've wanted to make lemon bars for a while since I love lemon but I was really motivated to bake a batch after seeing a recipe for a lighter version in Cooking Light magazine. 

But to make a long story short, I actually did not make the Cooking Light version but went with the well-known Ina Garten recipe instead, with some help from Smitten Kitchen.  Although I love the idea of lightening up these rich treats (pine nuts in the crust sounded good to me), how can I make a lighter version before making/tasting the "real" thing first?  So as a compromise, I just made a smaller version of the real thing.

And I think this is the real deal...rich, buttery (very fragrant) shortbread crust and tangy yet sweet lemon filling.  I'm glad I didn't slim down the lemon layer.  I actually figured I'd like a bit more lemon to shortbread ratio, and I was right.

I didn't know making lemon bars could be a bit of a high wire act though!  I thought I came a little too close to over baking mine.  Who knew you could over bake lemon bars!  I was worried about under baking - you read about fillings not setting and how difficult they are to cut.  And of course, since I divided the recipe in half and baked them in a 9-inch square pan instead of a 9x13 inch pan, the timing was thrown off.  And boy, I had lots of ugly air bubbles on top of my lemon bars - why hasn't anyone talked about that?

Luckily, I found that after cutting away the dried sides of my lemon bar, the center was still soft and, almost surprisingly at this point (since I'd lost confidence), very tasty!  Maybe it just goes to show you do need to bake lemon bars a bit longer than you think.  Next time, though, I'll play it safe and keep a closer eye on the oven.  I think the idea is to remove them about 5 minutes after the filling sets; directions are not very precise, for sure.

And also luckily, a generous dusting of powdered sugar does a good job of hiding those unsightly air bubbles.  The downside is that this almost-mandatory powdered sugar topping melts once covered so it's not ideal to travel with them (another point against the bake sale idea - particular during humid weather) or if you want to package them as a gift.

Now I know what the big whoop is about lemon bars.  They're a great balance between sweet and tangy, with that fresh lemon cutting through the rich buttery flavor of the crust.  And is it me or is there something a little extra special about bar desserts?  Casual yet special.  Next time you're at a bake sale, see if you find lemon bars.  They may be geared more towards adult rather than young palates but look at it this way, we all become adults eventually...