A bite of spring

Anna and I made these Strawberry Lemon Bars the other day and they were delicious. It was like spring in your mouth. It was also a pretty kid-friendly recipe: not too many ingredients, lots of different techniques to keep things interesting (patting, stirring, juicing, grating), etc. The only hard part was waiting for the bars to chill for an hour before eating.

Strawberry Lemon Bars

ingredients

• 1
  cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4
  cup powdered sugar
• 1/2
  cup butter
• 2
  eggs
• 3/4
  cup granulated sugar
• 2
  teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel (set aside)
• 3
  tablespoons lemon juice
• 2
  tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4
  teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3
  cup strawberry jelly
• 1
  teaspoon lemon juice
• 5
  whole fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered (or sliced) *

directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl stir together the 1 cup flour and the powdered sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (mixture will be dry). Press mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 8x8x2-inch baking pan. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or just until golden.

2.Meanwhile, for filling, in a large bowl beat eggs, granulated sugar, the 3 tablespoons lemon juice, the 2 tablespoons flour, and the baking soda with an electric mixer on medium speed about 2 minutes or until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Stir in lemon peel. Pour filling over hot crust. Bake about 20 minutes more or until light brown around the edges and center is set. Transfer to wire rack; cool.

3.In a small saucepan heat jelly and the 1 teaspoon lemon juice just until jelly is melted; spoon over bars in pan, spreading evenly. Arrange berry quarters on top of bars so that each cut bar will have a berry on top. Cover; chill for 1 to 2 hours. Cut into bars.

* The fresh strawberries on top looked nice, but they were hard to hold and eat around. A thin slice might work better than a whole quarter. And they got kind of mushy by the next day, so if you're not planning on eating all of the bars all at once like Tubby Tubberson, I would maybe hold off on those.