Lemon Shortbread Bars I Made It Ii

Lemon Shortbread Bars

Cosmicmother 5 years ago
~Made for December 2019's "Holiday Treats and Snacks" Recipe Challenge~

Lemon Shortbread Bars by Pleclare

I just had to make another batch of Shortbread bars, and wanted to find a recipe with lemon and came across this one. It's very similar to the other Shortbread Bars I tried except with granulated sugar, lemon zest and juice.
A tip I use when I'm making any recipe that calls for zest and sugar, is to rub the zest into the sugar first (with a fork or wire whisk) before adding any other ingredient. The oils release from the zest while the sugar absorbs it, making it more lemony and fragrant. I let this marry while I get all the other ingredients ready.
Since the recipe calls to sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the dough, I added the extra tablespoon of sugar with the zest so it also had the lemon essence.
The recipe also differs in that you cut the butter into the flour and sugar rather than cream it into the sugar first. This took less time and made it easer to crumble into the pan before pressing down as it wasn't so wet or greasy.
The only issue with the recipe was the baking time and/or temperature. I knew that 35-40 minutes at 350f had to be wrong, since the other recipe I made at 325f was done in 20-25minutes. So I did a little research and saw similar recipes at 300F were baked for 35-40 minutes. So I think Pat meant to put in 300F degrees and wrote 350F by mistake! But I went ahead at 350F anyways just to see how long it took, and it was done in 20 minutes. Mine went passed that, maybe to 25minutes at most because I was down in the laundry room and didn't know how long the oven was beeping for! They weren't burnt but went golden all over the top, probably from the sugar on top as well. They were super crispy through and through. But after a couple days in an airtight container they softened, and like Pat says in the description they became dense and chewy.
So, next time I will bake it at 300F for the 35-40 minutes called for and see how the results are, as I'm sure that is what Pat meant to write down!
The lemon essence is just perfect! A nice background of lemony flavour but the forward flavour is still a buttery shortbread. If you want that punch of lemon then perhaps using the juice to make a glaze instead of the sugar coating would be nice. But I really enjoyed the subtleness in this cookie, as did the whole family. Definitely one for the recipe book!
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mommyluvs2cook 5 years ago said:

Beautiful Shona! I live your tip for rubbing the zest into the sugar, I am stealing that :-) Glad you caught the temp. mistake, that could have not turned out well. Bookmarking!!

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LindaLMT 5 years ago said:

Great picture Shona! and nice recipe. I like the idea of marrying the lemon zest and sugar. Maybe the temp. difference is due to altitude?

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Cosmicmother 5 years ago said:

Thanks Michelle and Linda!
I don't think it's altitude, if anything, baked goods might take a little longer to bake? The only noticeable thing compared to my West Coast home is it takes a lot longer for water to boil! Lol ;)

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Cosmicmother 5 years ago said:

I finally made these again! This time I baked them at 300F for 30-35 minutes and it was perfect!! I also used a lemon glaze this time instead of the sugar coating and it was scrumptious!
This confirms to me that this recipe should have read "bake at 300F" instead of 350F. If you do use an oven temp higher than 300f then check on them at 20min's.
I know I will make these again and again, a new family favourite!

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LindaLMT 5 years ago said:

Wonderful Shona!! I love shortbreads.

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eastcoaster 5 years ago said:

Oh Yum Shona those look delicious. Lovely photo.

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mommyluvs2cook 5 years ago said:

Yay, you figured out the perfect temp., thanks for letting us know!

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