Lemon Bars With Olive Oil and Sea Salt
Updated Jan. 9, 2025
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes, plus cooling and chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1¼cups/155 grams all-purpose flour
- ¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
- 3tablespoons/25 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 1teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
- 10tablespoons/142 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 4 to 6lemons
- 1½cups/300 grams sugar
- 2large eggs plus 3 yolks
- 1½teaspoons/5 grams cornstarch
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 4tablespoons/57 grams butter
- ¼cup/60 milliliters fruity extra-virgin olive oil
- Confectioners’ sugar and flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
For the Crust
For the Curd
Nutritional analysis per serving (24 servings)
178 calories; 10 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 17 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 38 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 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).
- Step 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.
- Step 3
While the shortbread is baking, prepare the lemon curd: Grate ½ tablespoon zest from lemons and set aside. Squeeze lemons to yield ¾ cup juice.
- Step 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, olive oil and lemon zest.
- Step 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.
Private Notes
Comments
Hi, I am 10 years old and these lemon bars turned out amazing. I can say that this the best thing I've ever made until now. Hope to make it more often.
-The Unknown
This is my first time reading a recipe in this format in the NYT. Bravo for using grams! All recipes should be weighed out in metric. One problem and it's kind of a big one. You call for 4-6 lemons, this should be also in grams of juice. Otherwise weighing the rest of the ingredients is useless. I would say you should also measure the weight of the eggs as these can vary a lot, as well as sometimes specific sized eggs are not availble. Just my 25 cents having worked as a chef for 20 years
If anyone is having problems with the curd setting up, it's probably because either the curd didn't reach a vigorous enough boil, or you may have over boiled it. The curd need to come to a full boil and stay there for at least 30 seconds or so. You should see it thicken up before you take it off the heat. But overboiling will thin it out. Cornstarch can be tricky. One thing to note: Olive oil does make it softer than the usual lemon bar topping, so keep these in the fridge until serving time.
Despite a miscommunication resulting in a major recipie violation, these were delicious! A friend and I were making a double batch of these together, so there was some mental math and division of labour and a few distractions. We had the shortbread baked, cooked and strained the curd, poured it on the short bread but a last second taste before the oven revealed that I had forgotten to put the sugar into the lemon curd! Friend grabbed the pan and scooped the curd back in the pot and dumped in the sugar. Used chat gpt for rescue tips- heated low back up to temp and thickened with more cornstarch mixed with water. Cooked longer and lower in over than original recipe but eventually did get curd to set. After cooling they were still a little on the soft and runny side due to the cooking abuse so we served straight from the freezer as others suggested. Messy but really delicious. So bottom line is that this is a fussy but forgiving recipie and likely to be tasty even under bad circumstances.
These are amazingly good, and not difficult to make.
These lemon bars are AMAZING! Follow the tips and use half the sugar and double the zest in the lemon curd. To cut run your chefs knife under hot water and wipe clean after each cut. The flavor is intense so smaller pieces are best. After cooling place the cut pieces in the freezer for up to an hour before sprinkling with powdered sugar and Maldon sea salt flakes. These will be the hit of the party.