Tag Archives: Desserts

Lemon Bars from The Brown Betty Cookbook

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.

Brown Betty Lemon bars

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.

Brown Betty Lemon bars

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.

Brown Betty Lemon bars

Lemon Yogurt Cake

I modeled this recipe after this one but changed around some things, and miraculously, it worked! This cake is moist, sweet, tart, aromatic, beautiful and super easy to make.

Here’s how it’s done,

Ingredients:

2 eggs

3/4 c plain nonfat yogurt

Zest of one lemon

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c granulated sugar

1 1/3 c all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c vegetable oil

Glaze:

3 tsp lemon juice

1/3 c confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan with foil and grease. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the first six ingredients until fully incorporated. Stir in the dry ingredients by halves - do not overmix! Fold the oil into the batter with a rubber spatula, just to incorporate. Once the mixture is homogenous, pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 40-50 min or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

To make the glaze, combine the juice and confectioner’s sugar in a sauce pan over low heat. Stir and heat just until mixture comes together.

Let the cake cook for 10 min, then remove from pan and slowly peel foil off. Place onto serving dish and pour the glaze over the top, letting it drip down the sides. Let the cake soak for at least 30 min. Enjoy slowly…