dessert
BrightRx: Lemon Bars With Olive Oil and Sea Salt
Recipe by: Hannah Milligan, adapted from NYT Cooking
Time: 1 Hour 30 Min
Servings: 24 bars
June's BrightRx is dedicated to summer citrus. We are embracing oranges, lemons and more to brighten up our meals in these warmer days. Juicy and refreshing, citrus adds a beautiful burst to these dishes in both color and flavor. We love that it also serves as an excellent source of vitamin C to boost our immune systems. Our Operations & Supply Chain Lead Hannah Milligan adapted this lemon bar recipe from New York Times Cooking.
For the Crust
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups/ 155 grams all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup/ 50 grams granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons/ 25 grams confectioners’ sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 10 tablespoons/ 142 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
For the Curd
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 lemons
- 1 ½ cups/ 300 grams sugar
- 2 large eggs plus 3 yolks
- 1 ½ teaspoons/ 5 grams cornstarch
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 4 tablespoons/ 57 grams butter
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
- 1/4 cup/60 milliliters of Brightland ARISE olive oil
Instructions
- 1 Heat oven to 325 degrees and line a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with enough parchment to hang over two of the sides (to be used as handles later to lift the bars out of the pan).
- 2 To make the shortbread base, pulse together the flour, granulated sugar, confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest and salt in a food processor, or whisk together in a large bowl. Add butter and pulse (or use two knives or your fingers) to cut the butter into the flour until a crumbly dough forms. Press dough into prepared pan and bake until shortbread is pale golden all over, 30 to 35 minutes.
- 3 While the shortbread is baking, prepare the lemon curd: Grate 1/2 tablespoon zest from lemons and set aside. Squeeze lemons to yield 3/4 cup juice.
- 4 In a small saucepan, whisk together lemon juice, sugar, eggs and yolks, cornstarch and fine sea salt over medium heat until boiling and thickened, 2 to 5 minutes. Make sure mixture comes to a boil and stays there for 30 seconds or so; you should see it thicken up before you take it off the heat. But once it boils do not cook for longer than 1 minute or you risk the curd thinning out again. Remove from heat and strain into a bowl. Whisk in butter, Brightland ARISE olive oil and lemon zest.
- 5 When the shortbread is ready, take it out of the oven and carefully pour the lemon curd onto the shortbread base; return the pan to the oven. Bake until topping is just set, 10 to 15 minutes more. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold before cutting into bars. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and flaky sea salt right before serving.
