Baked Lemon Lime Bars

A couple of weeks ago, when we made the Tartest Lemon Tart for Tuesdays with Dorie, I posted about my grandparents' lemon tree and its offspring in my parents' backyard. My dad is a big fan of trees that bear fruit (who isn't?) so I grew up picking peaches from our peach tree and pears from our pear trees. I love picking fruit but I have to say, of the fruit that I've picked (the aforementioned plus apples and dewberries), lemons are my favorite to pick. We usually go out one day in December or January with a couple of big baskets and fill them up with lemons. Then we give as many as possible away and use the rest. Last year, though, Houston was hit by hurricane Ike and it threw off the lemon schedule a little bit because we picked lemons in December but then we picked the rest of them when I was home for spring break in march. Well, lemons keep really well and we've been making lemonade galore around here but I knew that we needed to step up the lemon consumption at least one notch if we were going to finish up all of the lemons before my parents moved. I like lemons but I prefer limes so this recipe from the Baked: New Frontiers in Baking cookbook was right up my alley! Add a graham cracker coconut crust to make it even more interesting and these bars are nothing short of spectacular.


Lemon Lime Bars
from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
Yield: 24 bars

Graham-Coconut Crust
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 15-17 crackers)
2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Lemon Lime Filling
11 large egg yolks
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1" pieces
1/3 cup heavy cream

Make the Graham-Coconut Crust:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13" baking pan or spray it with nonstick spray.

On a parchment-lined baking sheet, spread out the coconut. Put the baking sheet in the oven and toast the coconut until it starts to turn golden brown, 7-10 minutes. Remove from the oven, toss the coconut, and return it to the oven for 3 more minutes.

Put the graham cracker crumbs in a large bowl, add the toasted coconut and the brown sugar, and toss with your hands until combined. Add the melted butter. Use your hands to combine the mixture, then turn it out into the prepared pan. Using your hands, press the crust into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to create a perfectly even crust.

Put the crust in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the crust cool before adding the filling.

Make the Lemon Lime Filling:
Increase the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

Put the egg yolks, eggs, sugar, lemon, and lime juices, and lemon and lime zests in a large, clean metal pot. Whisk until combined. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture registers 180 degrees F. on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and cream. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve directly into the cooled rust. Use a rubber spatula to press the curd through the sieve.

Make sure the curd is evenly distributed. Tap the pan gently against the counter to make a level layer.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the filling is just set. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Wrap the pan in plastic (do not let the plastic touch the filling) and put it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Cut into squares and serve.

Bars will keep in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for 2 days.

The only thing that I did differently was to omit the step of straining the curd. This was partly from laziness on my part but mostly because I really liked the way that the green flecks of lime zest looked in the yellow curd. The next time that I make these bars I'll try to think ahead and have some candied lime and lemon zest to put on top of them and then I might go through the step of putting the curd through the sieve. I was a little nervous because I didn't see how 8-10 minutes in a low temperature oven was going to do anything to set the bars but it worked because they set up quite nicely.

These bars were a huge hit! My family loved them, especially my lemon-loving grandfather. My mom ate them for breakfast (her favorite way to indulge in sweets) and she also gave them the seal of approval. I don't usually like lemon bars so I don't have a lot to compare them with. I will say, the graham cracker coconut crust is what makes these bars spectacular, in my book anyway. The flavors of the crust are the perfect contrast to the flavors of the curd. If you looked at the recipe then you probably noticed that it calls for a daunting number of eggs -- 14 total, 11 egg yolks -- and it's worth it. I see an angel food cake in my future!