Spot of Sunshine Gluten-Free Meyer Lemon Bars
Why I Love This Recipe
I had recently accquired several Meyer lemons from Whole Foods. I'd been dying to try some and, if I liked them, I was planning on finding a small tree to keep in my apartment! Coincidentally my mom had sent me a recipe for GF Lemon Bars before my month of malaise, and I was eager to try them. I will admit that this was an extremely nervewracking thing for me to plan, because I hadn't truly baked from scratch since becoming gluten free. All those little bags of flour intimidated the crap out of me. Don't ask me why, but I'll bet most gluties have had similar initial reactions. You think you can make things from mixes forever, but eventually the cost is completely prohibitive. This was the day to break the cycle.
These Meyer Lemon Bars were an absolutely wonderful, tart, sweet, sunshiney way to begin February. They were sweeter than a traditional lemon bar, since Meyer lemons have a sweeter and richer taste that lacks the tart punch that a traditional lemon packs. I am now a Meyer lemon convert thanks to the many MANY recipes that I've seen on other blogs that got me interested in trying them.
The biggest compliments that I recieved for these were these, in order of awesomeness: 1) My amazing and wonderful boyfriend doesn't like fruity desserts. He ate half a pan of these beauties and asked when I'd be making some more. He's asking as I write this. 2) Our friend Chad said he couldn't tell they were gluten free. I almost cried with joy.
Ingredients You'll Need
Crust
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups gluten-free flour blend of choice (I did end up using the one featured with the recipe. It was AWESOME! I highly reccommend it, but if you have another that makes a nice shortbread, that's basically the consistency)
½ cup powdered sugar
Filling
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice
Zest from two small lemons or finely grated lemon peel
¼ cup gluten-free flour blend of choice
1-2 teaspoons powdered sugar, for garnish
Gluten-Free Flour Blend
MAKES ABOUT 4¼ CUPS
This recipe can be doubled or tripled to make as much as you need.
1 cup brown rice flour
1¼ cup white rice flour
¼ cup potato starch
2/3 cup tapioca starch/flour
¾ cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 teaspoons xanthan gum
Mix all ingredients together. Store unused flour mix in the refrigerator.
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with parchment paper for easy removal.
To make the crust, melt butter in the microwave in a medium glass bowl. Add the flour blend and powdered sugar. Blend with a fork. Press mixture into prepared baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
To make the filling, combine eggs, granulated sugar, lemon juice, zest and flour blend.
Pour this mixture over hot crust and bake at 325 degrees for 18 minutes. The lemon layer should not brown.
Remove bars from the oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cool completely.
To remove bars, hold on to the parchment paper and lift bars from the pan as one whole piece. Cut into individual bars with a sharp knife, wiping the knife clean between cuts. Store bars in the refrigerator until eaten.
Note: For best results in this recipe, your gluten-free flour blend should contain xanthan gum. If it does not, add ½ teaspoon xanthan gum per cup of flour blend.
