Remember this post where I told you about the incredible Brown Betty Cookbook? Well, when I was looking to bake something in celebration of Women’s Day (I’m Ukrainian and this day is not taken lightly in Eastern European cultures), I returned to its pages in search of another great recipe. I didn’t have to look hard as I’d placed a flag on the page with this lemon bars recipe before and here they are.

Although the bars are, in my opinion, quite festive, they require no fancy ingredients and are relatively simple to make. First a buttery crust is mixed and parbaked. Then a simple custard-like filling is prepared and poured over the crust. And then (the hardest part) they bake for half an hour and you pace back and forth in your kitchen in anticipation.

I scaled the recipe down to two-thirds of its original. I think I should’ve baked the crust at a higher temp but I didn’t. As a result, the crust didn’t completely solidify after its proposed 25-minute bake time and in the end turned out more crispy and less buttery and delicate as was intended by the recipe. They were still incredibly yummy with a super lemony, clean taste, and my mom, sister and I inhaled them nonetheless Below is the original printed recipe. Also, the book suggests using a stand mixer for these - I used a food processor and it worked just as well.

Recipe from The Brown Betty Cookbook (Wiley, 2012)

(Yield: 21 bars)

Crust

1 tbsp plus 2 sticks butter, at room temp

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c white sugar

1/2 c packed light brown sugar

Filling

8 oz cream cheese, at room temp

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c sugar

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs, beaten

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest

Procedure: Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 9x13x2″ baking pan with 1 tbsp butter. For the crust, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and sugars. Add butter and mix until dough forms. Pat dough into pan and bake until golden brown, about 25 min. Set aside. For the filling, beat together cream cheese and salt until smooth. Gradually add sugar, flour and baking powder and beat until blended. Add eggs, lemon juice and zest and beat until blended. Do not overmix. Pour the filling over crust and bake until a wooden pick inserted into a corner comes out clean, 30 to 35 min. Transfer the pan to wire rack to cool completely. When cool, cut into bars.