a citrus explosion up in here, plus a recipe for meyer lemon bars

We’ve had a wonderful citrus explosion happening up in here. We bought a flat of oranges that were not going anywhere too fast and I feared having to dump moldy oranges in the compost (oh the waste!) so I bought an old school juicer, the kind that requires muscle and hand strength and I turned our flat of dying oranges and clementines into good fresh pulpy juice!

And before that onslaught of orange-y citrus, a friend of ours gave us a bunch of wonderful meyer lemons from the garden of a friend. So I made some meyer lemon bars that are not “egg-y” tasting, ohhhhhhhh so good! (This image is of the very last one, I had to take a picture to immortalize the last few bites).

The recipe:

(adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe)

Crust:

  • 1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temp
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Filling:

  • 6 eggs
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 2 tablespoons grated meyer lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)…the lemon zest makes this recipe!
  • 1 cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice (we ran out of meyer lemons during this process so Cdawg made a quick trip to the store and so half of our juice was from a regular lemon which tastes totally different but still good. Meyer lemons reign supreme).
  • 1 cup flour
  • Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, add to the butter until just mixed. Gather dough into a ball on a well floured surface. Press it into a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool. Leave the oven on.

For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature (it took my pan a good hour+ to cool so unfortunately I served warm/hot lemon bars to my crafternoon ladies).

Cut into squares and dust with confectioners’ sugar. A little extra rind or mint garnish is surely pretty.

I can’t wait for the next food explosions….corn and watermelon get in my mouth!

Author: Ali Carras

At a very young age I lost site of my mom in a local grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. I did, however, have the smarts to go to the customer service counter. The kind woman at the counter asked "What is your name little girl?" My reply: "Assi." The woman gave me a look like, "Are you playing with me you little devil?" but she proceeded to blast on the loudspeaker the "We have a lost Assi at the front of the store." Customers throughout the store gagged and giggled, but my mom knew exactly who the woman was referring to: the mullet haired little girl with a tongue too big for her mouth, wearing a leotard, skirt, tights, and jelly shoes (with florescent green laces in them...even though they didn't need the laces). A shy little character for whom every little detail in life was a huge thing. I am pleased to report that today I am able to fully pronounce Allison (aka Ali), but the Assi pseudonym has always stuck, evolving into Aszi. As for the shy little character for whom every little detail in life was a huge thing? Some things never change. I have closed my comments due to mass amounts of spam that no filter could ever control. Feel free to contact me abeckord [at] gmail.com!

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