It's our second Tuesday with Dorie week for January, and the second recipe is Lemon Squares, French Style. Basically, Dorie creates an almond meal laced crust and crumb and fills it with a tangy lemon curd, and adds crunch with some chopped almonds on top.
A comment from some of the bakers who made these lemon squares the first time around was that the crust was too thick and should be halved. However, the crust and crumb dough is the same - one third is used for the crumb and two thirds for the crust. I didn't want to waste any of the dough, so I made the bars with the full quantity of dough. Maybe because I didn't have any expectations of what lemon bars should be like (in Australia, the closest thing we have is the lemon slice, a really thick no-bake base topped with lemon icing), I didn't mind the thickness of the crust. I just loved everything about these bars - the lovely biscuity smell, the buttery crumb, the tangy filling and the crunchy toasted almonds on top. I confess that I did not make the curd from Dorie's recipe, as I had a whole jar of lemon curd that my brother had bought for me from a market, so I used that instead.
I really liked these lemon squares - I would definitely make them again.
To see what the others thought of these bars, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.
It is Australia Day today, so I hope that everyone in Australia is enjoying the public holiday.
Happy Australia Day!
ReplyDeleteHappy Australia Day Gaye! I'm posting something special tomorrow (well, today for you!) but posted my lemon squares today. Agree that I loved everything about these. SO good!
ReplyDeleteI used the full quantity of dough as well and I found the dough:curd ratio worked well, maybe because I didn't use almond meal or almonds on top due to nut allergies. I really enjoyed this as well!
ReplyDeleteHappy Australia Day to you too x
These look delicious and I love lemon products. The base looks like a good thickness to me in your photos - maybe it's all about expectations.
ReplyDeleteOoh these do sound really good and it sounds like you were very taken with them! :D
ReplyDeleteHappy Australia Day! Your lemon bars turned out so nicely!
ReplyDeleteThese lemon squares are indeed yummy!
ReplyDeleteHappy Australia Day!
Your Lemon Squares look tasty!
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I didn't know what to expect either, just a vague idea. Your lemon squares look scrumptious!
ReplyDeleteI did not know what to expect from these lemon bars as I am not a fan of lemon, but Wow, these were really great.
ReplyDeleteYours look wonderful and so delicious.
I loved everything about these too!
ReplyDeleteYour bars look delicious....makes me want to make them again. It's good to know store-bought works as well.
ReplyDeleteThese did end up being so yummy!!
ReplyDeleteI loved these lemon bars with the full amount of crust! And yours look delicious. It would have been a great time-saver to use jarred lemon curd, so yay you!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed these! It's a lot of crust, but the crust is delicious, so no complaints!
ReplyDeleteFrench Lemon Squares sound and look delicious to me, I love anything lemon. Interesting notes on the crust, I will check it out...generally I like a thinner crust on bar cookies but lemon packs quite a lot of flavor so maybe it is fine with these. They look wonderful.
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