Michael and I just returned from Beach Hut Deli where we shared a sandwich for dinner. No sooner had we come into the house than Michael started looking for dessert. There was nothing to be found. I scoured the pantry and fridge for ideas and found that I had one lemon and half a bottle of key lime juice. I couldn’t make lemon bars with just one lemon, so I decided to tweak my Lemon Bar recipe to make Lemon Lime Bars. I was also low on all purpose flour so I substituted cake flour for a half cup of all purpose flour. If you try this recipe I am sure it would be just fine with a cup of all purpose flour.
Update: I finished making the bars and let them cool enough to slice. I offered one to Michael who replied, “I just ate a box of Fruit Loops so I’m not really in the mood for dessert.” Unreal. Eventually he did try them and agreed that they are delicious!
Lemon Lime Bars
Lemon Lime Bars
- For the crust:
- 1/2 cup cake flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick salted butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
- For the filling:
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup superfine or bakers’ sugar
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tsp finely grated lemon and lime zest (if using bottled lime juice, just add a tiny drop of green food coloring, or not)
- 1/8 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/8 cup bottled key lime juice or freshly squeezed lime juice
- DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray an 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray with flour or grease and flour pan.
- To make crust:
- Combine flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse until the mixture is pebbly. I didn’t want to take out the food processor so I just made the dough by hand using a pastry cutter. Press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake until lightly golden, about 18-20 minutes. Set aside crust.
- To make filling:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and salt. Whisk in lemon zest and juices until well combined. Pour over crust (it’s okay if crust is still hot). Bake until filling is just set, about 15 to 18 minutes. Cool completely before serving. Dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired.
Kelly says
Michael ate a whole box of Fruit Loops? Geez., talk about a sugar high!
These bars look delicious – and I happen to have a bunch of lemons and some limes.