So I decided to step out of my chocolate-y world and experiment with a new ingredient today! Lemons are such an easy way to add life to any food; I find myself adding a dash of freshly squeezed lemon juice to most of meals on a daily basis, just to give them that extra zing factor.

Kudos to the lovely Barefoot Contessa (aka Ina Garten) for this recipe. The original was designed for lemon bars, but I couldn’t help tweaking it up a bit and made my very first lemon tarts.

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For the filling:

• 6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup flour
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.

(Taken from the Food Network)

I must add here, I found it easier to knead the dough with my hands as opposed to using an electric beater – besides, you’re going to get your hands messy pressing it into the baking tin in any case, so why not? The batter can be used wholly for squares or tarts, but in my case, I wanted a bit of both, so I used half the batter and crust dough to fill a standard loaf-tin; the other half was divided out to make little tarts in a cupcake baking pan.

For garnishing, you can top off the bars with a dollop of fresh whipping cream, ( or vanilla ice-cream) and sprinkle some grated lemon zest just to give your guests a teaser of the tangy flavors to follow!

Happy  Baking

A big thank you to Jamie Oliver for this awesome and easy recipe!