Lemon Bars
Lemon bars, lemon bars!! These are Dave's f-f-favorite dessert in the whole world. Well, next to ice cream of any flavor. I've botched experiments in the past trying to come out with lemon bars close to the same texture and taste as "conventional" lemon bars. It's taken me many trials, but this is it I think!
These come inspired by a patient who made these for a church function from a recipe she had found in another paleo diet cookbook. I've made my own crust layer and altered the lemon layer to be Advanced Plan. The original recipe called for honey.
These are must-make bars! They haven't lasted long in our home.. Once Dave's nose got whiff, half the pan was devoured! And that makes me happy.
Makes 18 Bars
CRUST
1 cup almond flour (fine ground)
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp powdered xylitol*
1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp raw unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
LEMON TOPPING
1/4 cup almond flour (fine ground)
1/4 cup powdered xylitol*
2 tsp Stevita Spoonable stevia
4 large free-range eggs
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with unbleached parchment paper.
2.) CRUST Combine the almond flour, powdered xylitol, and sea salt in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, stir together coconut oil, butter and vanilla extract. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until thoroughly combined. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until lightly golden.
3.) LEMON TOPPING While the crust bakes, prepare the topping. In a blender or food processor (or by hand with a whisk), combine the almond flour, powdered xylitol, stevia, eggs, and lemon juice. Blend on Medium speed until smooth. Remove the crust from the oven. Pour the topping evenly over the hot crust.
5.) Pop back into oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees F until the topping is golden at edges. Let cool in the baking dish for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for 2 hours to set. Sprinkle with extra powdered xylitol (optional). Cut into bars and serve.
*The recipe for powdered xylitol can be found in Season's Eatings Holiday e-Book on page 47.
10 comments:
OH I can not wait to make these, we have a church picnic coming up this weekend and I wanted to have a spring time desert to pack with are alternative food! This will work wonderfully!
Sounds like the perfect picnic addition! Enjoy!
Ok I made these a today... My crust is not light colored like your pic, and it is very oily and crumbly. Also did it in an 8x8 and the topping is barley a 1/4 thick? HELP!! I cant take these to the picnic on Sunday!!They are not very nice looking or easy to dish up. :O( What went wrong? They taste have good taste, just not very thick or nice.
Jaxs
Hmmmm, not quite sure what happened for you? First thought -- what brand of almond flour did you use? And was it finely ground? That is key to most all my baking recipes. The almond flour must be a light fine texture, similar to wheat flour. If it's more like an almond meal (coarse), you'll get the oily crumbly results no matter what the recipe is (cake, bars, cookies....). For the filling, it's not going to be all that thick. I think the way I angled the picture makes it look thicker than it is. You can of course double the filling though if you want! (Or 1 & a half it.) If it collapsed during baking, could be due to humidity of the day since it's sort of an egg custard bake. Don't give up! Give it another go before Sunday. Keep me posted my dear!
I, too, made this and it turned out flat a couple of times. SO, I baked it in a round spring-form pan, and topped it with sliced strawberries after cooling to turn it into a kind of tart. Yummy!
Hey Elise! We hope all is well with you guys! I am allergic to nuts so I was wondering if there is any sort of flour that is similar to almond flour.
Hi Kristen/Cade. Finally getting to your comment, but glad we talked in person last week! I'd recommend brown rice flour, quinoa flour or buckwheat flour. All are Core Plan, but will behave the closest to Almond Flour. You're not suffering from a major top 10 killer or struggling w/ toxicity, so your body can probably handle occasional whole grains.
Just made these, and they turned out great! I grind my own almond flour using blanched almonds, and then I sift it. Makes it light and fluffy. 1 question for you, do you pack your almond flour into the measuring cup? On Elana's blog she always does, so I do now too. I did when making these, so just wondering if you do. Thanks!
Glad you like the recipe, Nora! I do pack my measuring cup. I don't push down too hard tho. Just scoop up whatever fits in the measuring cup, then press down with my finger tips lightly to make more room, and top off with a bit more almond flour, then level off with my finger or knife. I almost always sift after this no matter what the recipe. Great question!
Hi Andie, Well I can tell you I've never had them last long enough in my house to freeze any (my husband is a lemon bar fiend!), but I don't see why you couldn't freeze them. You'd probably want to thaw out in the fridge over night (not at room temp, crust would get soggy).
Post a Comment