So with Easter only a few weeks away, cherry blossoms and daffodils are blooming in my garden I am totally in the mood for lemon. Lemon and Spring just go together, at least at my house. In fact, at my house lemon goes with everything. I am a total lemonhead!
I love everything about lemons, the taste, the smell, the color and the shape. In my book you can’t go wrong with a lemon although I do have some non-lemon lovers at my house! My friend Jodi knows of my love affair with lemons and she shared today’s recipe for lemon curd bars with me. It is a little twist on the traditional lemon bar.
This recipe uses a store bought lemon curd but if you have made my lemon curd recipe you should totally use it instead. I always keep a jar or two of this stuff in my pantry. I pretty much love lemon curd on anything and everything. It’s even great on toast! The bars are top with a combination of toasted almonds, coconut and white chocolate chips which not gives it great flavor but texture too.
The lemon curd bar starts with base of butter, sugar, flour and baking powder. Mix it up in your mixer just until it is crumbly.
Line a 9 x 13 with foil and then grease it up. Set aside 2/3 of a cup of your crumbs for later and press the rest into the 9 x 13 pan.
Bake it at 375 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Then spread that jar of lemon curd on top (it is about 10-12 oz. of lemon curd if you are making your own) Be gentle doing it so you don’t lift up the crust layer.
Mix up the reserved crumb mixture with some toasted slivered almonds, coconut and white chocolate chips. The original recipe didn’t call for white chocolate chips but I love the combination of lemon and white chocolate so I threw some in. Also, if you are not a coconut fan (like me) leave the coconut out. I made half with coconut and half without and to tell you the truth I really didn’t mind the coconut in it! I really just think lemon makes everything taste better – even coconut.
Bake for about another 18 minutes until golden brown.
Let it cool and then lifting up on the foil remove it from the pan. I like to cut off the edges to make the pieces look a bit prettier. I really do it just so can eat all the edges.
Slice it up into pretty little bars.
And then put that lemon curd bar onto a pretty little plate. Every lemon bar deserves a pretty plate.
Lemon bars are wonderful with a nice cup of tea or just by themselves.
They also make the perfect addition to an Easter brunch. Happy Spring!
- 1 C butter, softened
- 1 C sugar
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 10-12 oz. jar lemon curd
- ⅔ C flaked coconut
- ½ C slivered or sliced almonds
- ½ C white chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Line 13x9x2 inch baking pan with foil, leaving about 1 inch of foil extending over the ends of pan. Grease foil, set pan aside.
- In a large bowl beat butter with mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
- Add flour and baking powder; beat until just combined and mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve ⅔ cups of the crumb mixture.set aside. Press the remaining crumb mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until top is golden. Remove from oven. Spread lemon curd over hot crust to within ½ inch of the edges of the pan.
- In a medium bowl, stir together reserved crumb mixture, coconut, white chocolate chips and almonds. Sprinkle crumb mixture over lemon curd.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes more or until edges are golden and topping is brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Remove bars from pan using the foil to lift bars. Place on cutting board, cut into bars. Store, covered, in the refrigerator.
Recipe originally shared over at 30 Handmade Days.
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A friend made the lemon curd bars for me for a going-away party – they are delicious! I plan on making them for Easter. Thanks for the recipe!