Lemon Buttermilk Bars

It is about time baked something apart from cupcakes.

I still love cupcakes, however it cannot be the only thing I bake all the time ;)

I've always been intrigued by lemon bars, having read them constantly in baking blogs from America / Canada.

Then one night during my pre-bedtime reading ritual, I stumbled upon a book I bought a year ago, Williams-Sonoma's baking "FoodMadeFast" which is the perfect book for baking for the part time baker with a tight schedule. The book is separated into 3 sections - 30 minutes from start to finish; 15 minutes hands-on time; Make more to store! Just select the recipe that suits your time frame and off you go. It's a brilliant book!

So coincidentally lemon buttermilk bars were featured suddenly all the lights came on in my head. This is absolutely the recipe to try this weekend, bonus point being that it supposedly takes only 15 minutes to make!

So how was my first attempt at bars? Frankly, more difficult than I thought! The pastry needed to be baked beforehand and cooled totally before pouring the lemon buttermilk filling and to bake for a further 15-20 minutes.

The results:
















































It took longer than 15 minutes in the kitchen, and to be fair the recipe did say it is 15 minutes hands-on time, excluding preparation work. Still, it was a pretty quick recipe to make. I'm beginning to love the sour sweet combination of flavours. Watch this space, I'll definitely be making more lemon bars in the future.

Lemon Buttermilk Bars
from Williams-Sonoma baking

Ingredients:
Unsalted butter 90g at room temperature
Granulated sugar - 60g plus 155g
Flour - 90g plus 2 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
2 eggs
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
Lemon juice - 80ml
Buttermilk - 125ml
Icing sugar for dusting

Instructions:
Crust
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Butter bottom and sides of 8 inch square pan
2. In a large bowl, use electric mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and 60g granulated sugar until creamy. Add 90g flour and salt and mix on low speed until blended.
3. Spoon the dough into pan and press evenly in pan bottom. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.


Filling
4. In a large bowl, use electric mixer on medium speed, beat eggs and 155g sugar until blended. Add 2 tbsp flour, lemon zest and juice, buttermilk and beat until smooth.
5. Pour into baked crust and bake for 20-25 minutes, until top of filling is set.
6. Let it cool completely in pan and cut into bars. Dust top with icing sugar.