Luscious (Meyer) Lemon Bars

My grandparents have a meyer lemon tree. They have a meyer lemon tree that's been in their backyard for almost 50 years. On that lemon tree are many big, big meyer lemons. Like, the biggest meyer lemons I've ever seen.

Meyer lemons are not your average lemons. They're a bit sweeter, for one thing, and there's something almost smooth about the flavor.

I love lemon bars of all sorts, but using meyer lemons makes them all the more special. And because my grandparents have such huge lemons, I only needed two of them for the whole recipe.

Oh, and about this recipe...it comes from The Joy of Cooking. Don't get me wrong-- Joy is an absolutely indispensable part of any properly-stocked kitchen--but generally speaking I take Joy's recipes as starting points and go wild from there. It's rare that I follow any of these recipes to the letter. But Joy's "Lemon Bars Cockaigne" are my be-all-and-end-all of lemon bar recipes. So here we go.

Ingredients (for an 8x8 pan--double for a 9x13)
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 TBS powdered sugar
6 TBS cold, salted butter (or unsalted+a pinch of salt)


3 large eggs
1.5 cups sugar (I use a tad bit less, to account for meyer lemons)
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup + 1 TBS lemon juice
1/4 cup all purpose flour
a bit more powdered sugar, if you like, for dusting the tops





Procedure
1) Crust: Pre-heat the oven to 325°F and grease a pan. Stir the flour and powdered sugar together, and then add the cold butter in small pieces. You can either cut the butter in with two knives or a pastry cutter, or you can just use your fingers to mush it all properly. Then, pat the crust into the pan, building a bit of a crust around the side so that the filling won't slip out. Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool.

2) Filling: Whisk eggs and sugar together until frothy and golden. Stir in the zest and juice, and then sprinkle the flour over the top, whisking the lumps out. Pour over the cooled crust and bake until set but still a tad jiggly, about 30 minutes. Let cool, sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top, and cut into bars. Yum!