Recipe - Perfect Lemon Bars

CRUST
1 One fourth cup Allpurpose flour
2/3 cup Confectioner's sugar; plus
extra to decorate finished
bars
One fourth cup Cornstarch
Three fourths teaspoon Salt
12 tablespoon Unsalted butter;, (11/2
sticks) at very cool room
temperature, cut into
1inch pieces

LEMON FILLING
4 lg Eggs; beaten lightly
1 1/3 cup Granulated sugar
3 tablespoon Allpurpose flour
2 teaspoon Finely grated lemon zest;
from two large lemons
1/3 cup Fresh lemon juice; strained
1/3 cup Whole milk
1/8 teaspoon Salt

Recipe By : Susan Logozzo, in Cook's Illustrated Magazine May/June 1998

1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350
degrees. Lightly butter a I 3by9inch baking dish and line with one sheet
parchment or wax paper. Dot paper with butter, then lav second sheet
crosswise over it (see illustration II above).

2. Pulse flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and salt in food
processor workbowl fitted with steel blade. Add butter and process to
blend, 8 to I 0 seconds, then pulse until mixture is pale yellow and
resembles coarse meal, about three 1 second bursts. (To do this by hand,
mix flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl.
Freeze butter and grate it on large holes of box grater into flour mixture.
Toss butter pieces to coat. Rub pieces between your fingers for a minute,
until flour turns pale yellow and coarse.) Sprinkle mixture into lined pan
and, following illustration 2, press firmly with fingers into even,
1/4inch layer over entire pan bottom and about One half inch up sides.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

3. For the filling: Meanwhile, whisk eggs, sugar, and flour in medium bowl,
then stir in lemon juice, milk, and salt to blend well.

4. To finish the bars. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Stir
filling mixture to rcblend; pour into warm crust. Bake until filling feels
firm when touched lightly, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack;
cool to near room temperature, at least 30 minutes. Following illustrations
3 and 4, above, transfer to cutting board, fold paper down, and cut into
serving size bars, "wiping knife or pizza cutter clean between cuts, as
necessary. Sieve confectioners' sugar over bars, if desired. Lemon bars
made with extra egg yolks and relatively little filling were flat and edgy;
our final recipe has the tender but firm texture we liked best; bars made
with extra filling and no starch oozed when cut; those made with extra
lemon but no milk had an unpleasantly sticky texture.

Nutritional information: 15.6 calories; 7.0g fat; 1.8g protein; 21.9g
carbohydrates; 47mg cholesterol; 90mg sodium. Diabetic exchanges: 1/2
grain/starch; 1One half fat; 1 other carbohydrates.
Posted to MMRecipes Digest by SuenDoug@aol.com on May 27, 1998