Saturday, June 8, 2013

Lemon Lime Bars

Ingredients:
2 C + 3 Tbls flour 
½ C powdered sugar, additional for garnish
2 Tbls cornstarch 
¼ tsp salt
1 C cold butter, diced
4 eggs
1 C sugar 
1/3 C half-and-half
1/3 C lemon juice
1/3 C lime juice
1 tsp lemon zest, additional for garnish
1 tsp lime zest, additional for garnish
1 drop green food coloring

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line 9x13" pan with parchment - bottom and up sides.

For the crust...  Sift together 2 cups flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt. Cut in cold butter chunks until the mixture is mealy. It will be a VERY DRY crust. Press firmly to bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes.

For the lemon & lime filling...  Whisk together eggs, sugar, half-and-half, and 3 Tbls flour. Divide equally into two bowls. Add lemon juice and lemon zest to one. Add lime juice, lime zest, and a drop of green food coloring to the other. (Personally, I think the food coloring looks too artificial. It is kind of nice to see a visual difference between the lemon and lime layers, however; ...one small drop?)

As soon as crust is baked, pour lime filling over hot crust; return to oven for 12 minutes. Next, pour lemon filling over lime filling; bake for another 10-12 minutes until set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Use parchment to remove cooled, uncut bars from pan. Cut into bars. Dust with additional powdered sugar, lemon and/or lime zest to serve. Store in refrigerator.

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