Gingered Lemon Bars

  Lemon bars are one of my favorite treats. Fine Cooking is one of my favorite magazines, so when I saw this recipe for Gingered Lemon Bars in the Fine Cooking Cookies Brownies, Bars and more I, of course had to try them.

  I am glad to say, that they were every bit as good as I had hoped. Easy to fix and even easier to eat.  They are more cake like than some lemon bars I have made, but really good tasting. 

  I did think the directions were confusing, so I am going to reword them to hopefully make it simpler to follow. Watch that the flour, sugar and ginger are divided. Don’t over bake them and they will reward you with great bars.

Gingered Lemon Bars

Yields sixteen 2 inch bars

 5 ounce (1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons) flour divided (topping, filling)

 6 ¼ ounces (1 ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon) confectioners’ sugar divided (topping, filling, sugar topping)

 1 tablespoon lightly packed finely grated lemon peel

  ½ teaspoon ground ginger, plus a tiny pinch 

  Pinch of table salt

  4 ounce (½ cup) unsalted butter. More for pan (I used salted)

  ½ teaspoon baking powder

  3 large eggs at room temp.

  6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (not bottled)

 Place rack in middle of oven, and heat to 350°F. Butter an 8 inch square pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk 1 cup flour,  with 1/4 cup cup of the confectioners sugar, the lemon zest, ½ tsp of the ginger and a pinch of slat. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or 2 table knives until mixture resembles small peas. Dough should just start to cling together when squeezed. Place in baking pan and with floured hands, press it evenly over the bottom. Bake until very light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool on rack while preparing topping.

 In a small bowl, whisk 1 ½ cups of the confectioners sugar, the remaining 2 tablespoons flour, baking powder and another pinch of salt. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer on high speed until tripled in volume, pale yellow in color and very light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, add the flour sugar mixture and beat just until blended. Add lemon juice and again beat just until blended. Pour lemon mixture over the crust. Bake until the filling is just set in the center, is golden brown on top and doesn’t jiggle when the pan is nudged, 18 to 20 minutes. (took 20 minutes in my oven). Let cool completely in the pan. Just before serving, stir the remaining 1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar with the pinch of ginger in a small bowl. Sift over the bars. Cutting with a bench scraper or a metal spatula, slicing straight down (rather than dragging) will give you nicer looking bars. Store in a airtight container.