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Lemon Bars with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

Crust

  • 1 1/4 cup (155g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
  • 3 Tbsp (25g) confectioners' sugar
  • 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
  • 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • 10 Tbsp cold unsalted butter - cut into cubes

Curd

  • 4 lemons - 1/2 Tbsp zest + 3/4 cup juice
  • 1 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs + 3 egg yolks
  • 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
  • pinch fine sea salt
  • 4 Tbsp unsalted butter (14 Tbsp total crust+curd)
  • 1/4 extra virgin olive oil - fruity
  • Confectioners' sugar plus flaky sea salt for sprinkling


  1. Heat oven to 325 deg. Line 9“x9” baking pan with parchment paper having enough overhang to use as handles to lift out of pan
  2. Pulse together the flour, sugar, lemon zest, and salt in a food processor or whisk together in a large bowl. Add butter and pulse or use a pastry cutter or two knives to combine into a crumbly dough. Press dough into prepared pan and bake until shortbread is pale golden all over, approx 30 min.
  3. While shortbread is baking, prepare the lemon curd: Grate 1/2 Tbsp zest from lemons and set aside. Squeeze lemons to yield 3/4 cup juice.
  4. In a small saucepan whisk together lemon juice, sugar, eggs and yolks, cornstarch and fine sea salt and heat until boiling and then boil for 1 min. until thickened. Mixture must come to boil for the cornstarch to activate. Remove from heat and strain into a bowl. Whisk in butter, olive oil and lemon zest.
  5. When the shortbread is ready, take it out of the oven and pour the lemon curd on top. Return pan to the oven and bake until topping is just set, 10-15 min. more. Allow to cool to room temp., then refrigerate until cold before cutting into bars. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and sea salt just before serving.


Serves: 24 bars     Total cook time: 45 min.
Source: NYT Recipe app - Melissa Clark



recipe/lemonbarswitholiveoil.txt · Last modified: 2015/04/12 21:35 by rob