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Lemon Squares
Dena Kleiman, Susan Mahnke Peery
2028 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
2,028
1 hour
Updated Feb. 29, 2024
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Heat oven to 325 degrees and line a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with enough parchment to hang over two of the sides (to be used as handles later to lift the bars out of the pan).
To make the shortbread base, pulse together the flour, granulated sugar, confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest and salt in a food processor, or whisk together in a large bowl. Add butter and pulse (or use two knives or your fingers) to cut the butter into the flour until a crumbly dough forms. Press dough into prepared pan and bake until shortbread is pale golden all over, 30 to 35 minutes.
While the shortbread is baking, prepare the lemon curd: Grate ½ tablespoon zest from lemons and set aside. Squeeze lemons to yield ¾ cup juice.
In a small saucepan, whisk together lemon juice, sugar, eggs and yolks, cornstarch and fine sea salt over medium heat until boiling and thickened, 2 to 5 minutes. Make sure mixture comes to a boil and stays there for 30 seconds or so; you should see it thicken up before you take it off the heat. But once it boils do not cook for longer than 1 minute or you risk the curd thinning out again. Remove from heat and strain into a bowl. Whisk in butter, olive oil and lemon zest.
When the shortbread is ready, take it out of the oven and carefully pour the lemon curd onto the shortbread base; return the pan to the oven. Bake until topping is just set, 10 to 15 minutes more. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold before cutting into bars. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and flaky sea salt right before serving.
If anyone is having problems with the curd setting up, it's probably because either the curd didn't reach a vigorous enough boil, or you may have over boiled it. The curd need to come to a full boil and stay there for at least 30 seconds or so. You should see it thicken up before you take it off the heat. But overboiling will thin it out. Cornstarch can be tricky. One thing to note: Olive oil does make it softer than the usual lemon bar topping, so keep these in the fridge until serving time.
This is my first time reading a recipe in this format in the NYT. Bravo for using grams! All recipes should be weighed out in metric. One problem and it's kind of a big one. You call for 4-6 lemons, this should be also in grams of juice. Otherwise weighing the rest of the ingredients is useless. I would say you should also measure the weight of the eggs as these can vary a lot, as well as sometimes specific sized eggs are not availble. Just my 25 cents having worked as a chef for 20 years
Second time I made these I think I solved the "Runny Curd" issue. Melissa's edict to bring to a boil, but no more than a minute for the curd, saw me turning it off with the first appearance of bubbles at the edges of the pan. Next time the stuff was clearly boiling across the entire surface and it resulted in a firmer curd. So, bring it to a clear boil- for about 10+ seconds. And keep on whisking as it cooks.
Hi, I am 10 years old and these lemon bars turned out amazing. I can say that this the best thing I've ever made until now. Hope to make it more often.
-The Unknown
I would change the cornstarch to potato starch in the lemon curd. Potato starch holds up better to heat and acidity. It won't break down and get "weepy" the way cornstarch does.
I've made this about 4 times so far for different parties and now people are asking me to just bring this. It is so good and it's also fun to make. Make sure you measure the lemon juice to 3/4 cup for the curd.
Made twice to rave reviews. The second time, I used only 1 cup sugar and they were just as good.
I used less than half of the sugar for this recipe. It's too sweet for Japanese taste.
I had a dozen or so left over from a dinner, popped them into the freezer and found them to be great right out of the freezer. The curd doesn't entirely freeze, even at 0 degrees, and on a hot summer day- well, they were pretty nice!
All the notes from the cook/readers helped enormously in getting it exactly right the first time !
I decided to follow the notes to reduce the sugar ( I chose 3/4 cup) as my personal preference is a tart lemon bar. I let the curd come to a FULL boil as cautioned and let boil with stirring for a full minute then removing from the heat and the curd was perfect! I brought it to my cousins easter brunch ( for 16) and it was a hit!
I am an organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil producer & made this recipe with our new Farga varietal nuovo; BRILLIANT! I do all of my baking, from my mom's Greek pastries to my pecan pie filling w/EVOO. FYI for Keith"expensive" olive oil doesn't mean it's high quality. UC Davis has a study posted on their site: 69% of EVOO in the stores is not actually what it is labeled to be. Many are adulterated with other oils, creating a weird chemistry for cooking, baking, etc.
I love these bars. Super lemony with a kick of salt.
I subtracted half a cup of sugar and doubled the zest. And used an 8" x 8" pan.
Thanks to all the notes preceding- I was observent when cooking the curd.
Thanks for a great recipe Melissa. Can't wait to try the savory Dutch Baby.
Delicious! Here's a tip for zesting the lemon when it's going into a food processor; peel the lemon with the vegetable peeler; drop it into the processor with the sugar; whirl that first until the lemon is finely zested before adding the rest of the ingredients; so quick and easy; time saving. This is a great recipe. The smaller amount of of sugar does feel better, especially now that we know more about sugar....and our health.
This is an excellent dessert. I've made it several times exactly like the recipe and later in a gluten-free, dairy free method. I just substituted with Earth Balance non-dairy butter and gluten-free flour. I added 3/4 teaspoon sorghum gum to the flour.
Just say no to adding the olive oil to the curd. I thought something magic and delicious would happen, but instead I learned why nobody adds olive oil to lemon curd. It makes it heavy, green, gloopy, and well... olive oily. The crust and curd (sans oil) are both quite nice recipes, but I would choose a different route if you're looking to elevate a lemon bar.
I made them with half of the sugar in the curd as other commenters said to do and they were PERFECT. I made a second tray with monk fruit instead of sugar and while the curd did not set quite as firmly, they taste exactly the same.
I liked how the dough for the crust was really easy to make and turned out to be a nice consistency. Th actual process was entertaining and fun. The lemon curd was really good because it was sweet and sour at the same time. One of my favorite parts was zesting the lemons. The recipe and its instructions were very straight forward which led to a better result. Although it took time, it went by pretty quickly and wasn't too difficult.
Hi, I already did these recipe several times and it's amazing the olive oil makes it lighter ! Now I have to make it again, but I want to know if it's possible to do it in adavance and freeze? Or how much days it lasts good in the fridge? If anyone knows it would be very helpful! Thank you very much !
Next time I plan on using less of the crust mixture because for me it was too thick. I did not use all of it for the first time making it, but even then it still was too thick for me. I used the recommended 3/4 cup sugar for the curd to make it more sour and tart and it tasted amazing! I used the brand Lakanto as a substitute for he powder and granulated sugar. I was nervous that it would not let the curd go and curdle but luckily it did and over all turned out amazing.
SOOOOOO SWEEET. Like crazy mouthpuckering sweet. You can half the sugar easy. Do not measure ml with a food scale. Put way too much olive oil in. Very vague directions with how to make the curd. Super bummer.
I baked it in an 8x8" pan, and the crust still baked within the provided timespan. I also used frozen lemon zest, and I still got a delicious lemon flavor.
Followed comments to half the sugar in the crust and curd. It came out great. Didn't bother straining anything except the lemon/lime juice. Texture was more of a lemon meringue pie without the meringue which you can add with the leftover egg whites. I actually preferred it this way. Shortbread crust, while on the thicker side bc I used an 8x8, is on point. It's not a wet dough. The butter melts to make a liquid. I crumbled butter in flour like biscuit dough. Will make it again.
Delicious and elegant! The olive oil adds a subtle complexity. Modifications: halved all sugar quantities in shortcrust and curd. Used the microwave curd method mentioned in another note: mixed all ingredients, microwaved for 30-60sec intervals, whisking between rounds until adequately thickened, then adding butter and olive oil. Used limes rather than lemons because of a surplus. Mixed zest with salt to top individual servings. Will definitely make again!
My go to recipe for lemon bars. I made the original recipe but found it too sweet. I adjusted the recipe by adding only half the sugar for both the crust and lemon curd, using Meyer lemons and using half regular flour and half almond flour for the crust. The result created perfection!!
These were so delicious, I used a olive oil made with pressed lemons. OMG They were a little soft - but I stored them in the freezer before serving. Also - the 2 leftover bars were so delicious right from the freezer.
Followed recipe exacty and they came out wonderful. Thank you!
Very good, but certainly more sweet than I like. I think I'd probably even halve the sugar, but the recipe is solid otherwise. For the curd, I gave it 30 seconds after a SOLID roiling boil (not just starting to boil).
Tried and true lemon bar recipe. Heaven!
Used one cup powdered sugar in curd and flour instead of cornstarch (only because didn’t have cornstarch - it’s either 2:1 or 3:1 flour:cornstarch) and just a splash of olive oil. Turned out tart and delicious
These are so good. However, I reduced the sugar to one cup and found them very tart (which I like) but I cannot imagine reducing it further.
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