Lemon bars

Lemon bars

By Sarah Cook
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(21 ratings)
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Prep: 20 mins Cook: 25 mins - 35 mins

Easy

Makes 12-15
These slices of zesty lemony goodness are hard to resist

Nutrition and extra info

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal278
  • fat12g
  • saturates7g
  • carbs42g
  • sugars26g
  • fibre1g
  • protein4g
  • salt0.2g
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Ingredients

    For the slice base

    • 175g plain flour
    • 50g ground rice
      Rice

      Rice

      r-eye-s

      Rice is a grain, the seed of a type of grass, which is the most widely grown and the most…

    • 85g golden caster sugar
    • 140g cold butter, diced
      Butter

      Butter

      butt-err

      Butter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…

    • 1 tbsp milk

      Milk

      mill-k

      One of the most widely used ingredients, milk is often referred to as a complete food. While cow…

    For the lemon topping

    • zest 3 lemons, plus 200ml/7fl oz juice (about 4 lemons)
      Lemon

      Lemon

      le-mon

      Oval in shape, with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile fruits…

    • 3 eggs
      Eggs

      Egg

      egg

      The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition, packed with protein and a…

    • 200g caster sugar
    • 25g flour
      Flour

      Flour

      fl-ow-er

      Flour is a powdery ingredient usually made from grinding wheat, maize, rye, barley or rice. As…

    • icing sugar, to dust

    Method

    1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line a 21 or 22cm square, shallow baking tin with baking parchment. Put the flour, ground rice and sugar in a bowl with the butter and rub in until fine crumbs form. Stir in the milk with a cutlery knife. Tip into the tin and press down evenly. Bake for 15-20 mins until golden.

    2. Remove the tin and lower oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Mix the lemon juice and eggs, then sieve into a bowl with the sugar, flour and zest. Whisk to combine, pour over the base, then bake for 10-15 mins until the top is just set. Cool in the tin, dust with icing sugar, then slice.

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    Comments, questions and tips

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    Karen Flanders's picture
    Karen Flanders
    10th Mar, 2018
    I found ground rice in Waitrose (Whitworths) make sure you add the topping to the base while it’s still hot and I used 150ml lemon juice and 50ml water and it was still very lemony
    Bridgette Blackmore's picture
    Bridgette Blackmore
    4th Dec, 2017
    5.05
    Great recipe! I made mine in a large round pie dish and it was superb!! I also served it with some Creme Fraiche :-) will definitely make this again and there are loads of useful uses for the lemon rinds.
    annmucc
    12th Sep, 2016
    Should the base be soft or crispy? Have just made these (adding the lemon topping to the base as soon as it was out of the oven). The top set after 15 minutes as the recipe says, but the base was really soft. Is this as it should be? I was expecting a more crispy base. Where did I go wrong?
    tabithatwitchit
    29th Feb, 2016
    I add zest to the base and use 50g dessicated coconut instead of rice flour. If I have vanilla extract I chuck a few drops in. I also dust with coconut as well as icing sugar. It needs more than 10 minutes to set. My family love these done with these tweaks.
    surfnirvana's picture
    surfnirvana
    13th Aug, 2015
    1.05
    Soggy, thin. Not very pleasant. Waste of good ingredients. Shame.
    la cuina de casa
    5th Jun, 2015
    Delicious! And super easy to make. We've baked it twice following the directions above and on both occasions people have enjoyed it a lot and we got plenty of nice comments. However, it's very lemony and despite the sugar, it might not be for those who're not really into that fruit.
    Georgina White
    15th Nov, 2014
    5.05
    Very easy to make and lovely to eat. Just the right balance of tartness but sweetness. I couldn't find ground rice so increased the amount of flour used. I don't think I'd add the milk next time, didn't stir through very easily and not sure what it added. I added the mixture to a cold base and it was absolutely fine.
    gemski184
    25th Aug, 2014
    I really liked this - I subbed the ground rice for ground almonds and really squeezed it onto the base, and made the topping while the base was cooking. 4 lemons is a good estimate. They were nice and sharp but still sweet, I baked with the topping for a bit longer as I didn't trust the eggs would set after only 15 minutes and they were very wobbly still, I probably did it for about 25 minutes in total (although I kind of forgot about them). Will be making again and would like to mix it up with some orange and limes as suggested below.
    danieltomos
    26th Jan, 2014
    1.05
    It's a shame the recipe doesn't say that the filling needs to be poured onto a hot base. I ended up with a soggy mess. What a waste of time and money. :-(
    dalinosa2012
    5th Jan, 2014
    Tried these lemon bars as part of a "high tea" experiment. The flavour was great, but for some reason my topping sank to the bottom of the tin, no problem, just turned them around and nobody noticed, but I must have done something wrong. Will try again soon.

    Pages

    ana.todica
    9th Dec, 2013
    I don't have a way to grind the rice. Can I replace it with regular flour? If yes, do I add 50g or more? Thank you!!!
    goodfoodteam's picture
    goodfoodteam
    18th Dec, 2013
    Hi Ana,Ground rice is a type of flour, it's called rice flour. Plain flour will work but may change the texture, use the same amount. Best wishes.
    tobyjug3
    12th Feb, 2014
    to reduce the calories could use sorbitol to replace the sugar- spoon for spoon
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