Shortbread and Lemon Curd Bars
By: dad1337
Published: Monday, January 27, 2014 - 7:45am

Ingredients




For the Shortbread
1 pound butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla (optional)
4 cups all purpose flour
For the Lemon Curd
5 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 4 lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice strained
pinch of salt
6 Tbs butter cut into small cubes

Preparation

1 In a double boiler, place the egg yolks,sugar, lemon juice,zest and salt.  Whisking constantly mix, until the eggs turn a pale yellow and the mixture thickens and forms a ribbon when the whisk is lifted from the bowl about 10 -15 minutes.  Don’t let the bowl come in contact with the water and keep the water from coming to a full boil or you might scramble the eggs. 2 Once the mixture thickens take the bowl off heat and add the butter, a little at a time, whisking the butter completely into the curd before adding more. 3 Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl.  Cover with a piece of plastic wrap that comes in contact with the top of the curd (this will prevent a skin from forming).  Place in refrigerator to cool and thicken. 4 Now begin the shortbread. 5 Line a 8 x 8 inch pan with aluminum foil (this will make removing the bars from the pan easy). 6 Preheat oven to 325° 7 In the bowl of the mixer place the sugar and butter and cream until soft and fluffy. 8 Add the yolk and vanilla and continue to mix until completely incorporated. 9 Slowly add the flour and mix until all combined. 10 When a dough begins to form take the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a flattened ball.  Cut into 3 equal pieces. 11 Take a third of the dough and roll it out to a 7 1/2 inch square.  Place the square into the baking pan and lightly press from the center pushing the dough to the corners and edges. 12 Bake in the center of a 325° oven for about 50 minutes unti the top begins to lightly brown.  Remove pan to a wire rack to cool completely. 13 Once the shortbread is cooled spoon the Curd on top and even and smooth it out with a spatula.  Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface for a few hours, overnight better. 14 Carefully take the foil lined bars out of the pan and gently remove the foil. cut into 16 equal 2″ squares.  Optional sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top.

About

A light summery treat that's good any time of year