As I mentioned in my previous post, I was going to skip last week's Baked Sunday Mornings recipe (Lime Angel Food Cake with Lime Glaze) and make a recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking instead. But after flipping through the cookbook, I decided to try the recipe for Lemon Lime Bars, and because the recipe calls for three whole eggs and an additional eleven yolks, I realized I would have enough leftover egg whites to make the angel food cake too. It seemed to be fate that I should make both recipes at the same time, to maximize my egg usage.
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I ran into a small problem while making the filling. Unlike most curd recipes, this one calls for both whole eggs and egg yolks. I must not have whisked my eggs thoroughly enough, because I ended up with lots of bits of cooked egg white in my curd. But after pushing the curd through a sieve, it was smooth and silky, and it tasted great.
The bars looked like they were set firm when I took them out of the oven (no jiggle at all), but even after chilling them overnight, they did not cut as cleanly as other lemon bars I've made; perhaps I should have baked them a little longer. Also, the graham crust was prone to crumbling and had to be handled with care. That said, I loved the flavor of the graham-coconut crust; the coconut really came through and I don't know why you don't see coconut more often in graham cracker crusts. The crust was a delicious complement to the curd filling, reminiscent of key lime pie.
Because this bar was a little messy and also fussy to handle and serve, I can't say I'd recommend it over Rose Levy's Beranbaum's Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar, which has an elegant and well-behaved shortbread crust. But I enjoyed the bars, and they can definitely bring a taste of warm sunshine to you all year round!
Recipe: "Lemon Lime Bars" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
Previous Posts:
I love lemon bars, and I have also tried another lemon-lime bar before as well. But I had never tried a recipe that has citrus curd on top of a graham cracker-coconut crust, and it seemed like the bars would be a great way to enjoy the bright favors of the tropics on a dreary winter day.
The crust for these bars is made from graham cracker crumbs, toasted sweetened coconut, light brown sugar, and melted butter. You press the mixture into the bottom of a pan and then bake it until golden brown. Then you top the baked crust with lemon-lime curd (made from eggs, egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, lime juice, lemon zest, lime zest, butter, and heavy cream), bake the bars until the filling is set, and chill the bars before cutting.
The bars looked like they were set firm when I took them out of the oven (no jiggle at all), but even after chilling them overnight, they did not cut as cleanly as other lemon bars I've made; perhaps I should have baked them a little longer. Also, the graham crust was prone to crumbling and had to be handled with care. That said, I loved the flavor of the graham-coconut crust; the coconut really came through and I don't know why you don't see coconut more often in graham cracker crusts. The crust was a delicious complement to the curd filling, reminiscent of key lime pie.
Because this bar was a little messy and also fussy to handle and serve, I can't say I'd recommend it over Rose Levy's Beranbaum's Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar, which has an elegant and well-behaved shortbread crust. But I enjoyed the bars, and they can definitely bring a taste of warm sunshine to you all year round!
Recipe: "Lemon Lime Bars" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
Previous Posts:
- "The Name Is No Lie: Very Tangy Lemon or Lime Bars," November 17, 2010.
"The Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar," October 15, 2008.
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