This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays was chosen by Rebecca of Indecisive Baker: toasted almond lemon bars. It wasn’t all that long ago that lemon desserts really weren’t among my favorites (read – I avoided them at all costs) but these days I can’t get enough. As for the almonds, oddly enough I don’t really like whole nuts in my desserts, but almond extract is a completely different story. It is one of my very favorite flavorings. This recipe includes almond extract in the filling as well as toasted sliced almonds (chopped pretty finely in the food processor) in the crust. All that to say that even though I haven’t had many desserts combining lemon and almond, I was pretty sure this one would be quite tasty!
I scaled the recipe back, making only 1/4 of it using a loaf pan instead of a 9×13-inch pan. While the recipe is fairly easy, I struggled with the crust for reasons that still aren’t clear to me. Both times the dough seemed soft after I pressed it into the bottom of the pan, so I stuck it in the freezer to firm it up a bit before baking. I weighted the crust down with pie weights sitting on a piece of aluminum foil I’d sprayed with cooking spray. The first time I baked it, the crust stuck to the foil and completely fell apart. The second time I watched it like a hawk in the oven, checked every few minutes to avoid the disaster of the first go-round. While it was more successful on the second try, it still shrunk more than I’d hoped it would. Luckily, the filling was a lot less finicky. Lemon juice, eggs, sugar, almond extract and flour are whisked and poured into the crust. Since I’d scaled the recipe back so much I only needed to juice one lemon (as opposed to the 7 suggested for the full recipe). Though the filling was thin and runny, it firmed up perfectly in the oven. My baking time for 1/4 of the recipe was about 20 minutes.
After refrigerating the bars to make them easier to cut, I sliced my mini batch into 8 bars. I’ve since eaten quite a few of them because they’re really delicious! Lemon was definitely the prominent flavor, but I could also taste both the almond extract in the filling and the almond pieces in the buttery crust. I didn’t find them too tart or sweet – they struck a wonderful balance for me. Thanks to Rebecca for hosting this week! You can find the recipe on her blog here or on pages 78-79 of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.
These look fabulous. I also struggled with the crust…I might give this another try sometime using your techniques.
Your bars look beautiful! Great idea to grease the foil. I used parchment and the crust stuck to it a bit. I will be making these again.
Mmm. I love lemon bars. I’d probably make them a lot more often if it didn’t take me so long to juice the lemons. =) Those look delicious.
Gosh, these look really jummy!!
Such a nice looking cookie. Enough of us had to struggle a bit with the crust to make me think, there is something that should be included in the recipe, such as freezing the crust before baking it.
They look great! I had a little struggle with the dough too…I used foil and then rice to weigh it down…when I pulled back the foil some of the crust came with it. But it all worked out in the end. Glad to hear you’ve become a lover of lemon treats! 🙂
You baked the crust twice; wow! Your lemon bars look beautiful. I had the same issue with my pie crust for a strawberry pie. Just finished baking a second shell because the first shell totally came away with the foil. Very frustrating.
I hope you get to pick raspberries this season. The places I pick raspberries do not have ripe berries as of yet.
I remember having some trouble with the dough too when I made these last. It was hard to make and ended up a little too brown in the end. The filling was great though, so I think I may give them a go again with a different crust?
I’d never thought about lemon and almond paired together before this summer, but at the place where I work (Sucré — check it out at http://www.shopsucre.com; any baker would go gaga over it), we have a couple things with it. There are individual almond financiers topped with really light lemon mousse, and a bigger lemon cake with toasted almond buttercream. I was a little wary, like you, but they actually go together so so so well. This looks like a great recipe – it’s been bookmarked!
Your bars look lovely. Sorry you had to make them twice, but I think this recipe was worth it – super yummy!
Looks great! Looks lovely with the powdered sugar on top!
I had a bit of a dough nightmare too. So sticky!
They look fab!
Katie xox
Your bars look beautiful.
I baked them without the weights and they were fine-at the end it poofed up ever so slightly and I took my oven mitt to gently tamp it down.
Your bars came out perfect Tracey.
they look great. I didn’t have anywhere to bring the bars so I opted out of making them, guess I should have just done a 1/4 recipe like you!
Your bars are beautiful!
Another lemon bar recipe! Love the almonds (of any shape) so I will definitely give these a try (now that I have the book)! Sorry the crust was so finicky – that happens with certain doughs (haven’t figured out why myself)! But they look incredible – that’s the important part!
These look good!
Carmen
This looks delicious!! I’ll use the lemon filling recipe along with some other crust!!
the only shame about these…you made too few! 🙂 they look great. seems like a lot of us had issues w/the crust.
Sometimes when you just need a little break from chocolate, this would just hit the spot!
I had trouble with the crust as well, and I’m gathering that most bakers had SOME sort of trouble with it being too soft, etc. So it may just be the recipe…? It could happen, right?
I have deemed these my new lemon-crack. I just picture me finding a way to add blueberries into the bars. But I do hate juicing lemons. But its so worth it!
These look great… They wouldn’t last 10 minutes in my house!
yum lemon bars are my favroite. i never made them before. I need to try.
Yikes…yummy:) These look wonderful!
love the combination of lemon and almonds