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Lemon-Blueberry Bars

By Melissa Clark

Lemon-Blueberry Bars
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
1½ hours, plus cooling and chilling
Rating
4(1,248)
Comments
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Fresh blueberries make these lemon bars a bit sweeter than usual, and very jammy, but without compromising their essential acidity. The grated lime zest gives the curd another note of citrus complexity. But if you’d rather leave out the lime, use more lemon zest. Or try playing with orange and grapefruit zests. The filling stays pretty soft in these tender bars, so it’s best to keep them in the fridge until right before serving, then dust with powdered sugar at the last minute.

Featured in: Lemon Bars, With Blueberries in a Supporting Role

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Ingredients

Yield:16 servings

    For the Crust

    • 1¼cups/160 grams all-purpose flour
    • ⅓cup/40 grams confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting
    • 1teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
    • ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
    • 10tablespoons/140 grams cold unsalted butter, cubed

    For the Curd

    • 1½cups/300 grams granulated sugar
    • ¾cup/180 milliliters fresh lemon juice (from 4 to 8 lemons)
    • 3large egg yolks
    • 2large eggs
    • 2teaspoons cornstarch
    • Pinch of fine sea salt
    • 8tablespoons/113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), diced
    • ½tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
    • 1½teaspoons finely grated lime zest (optional or substitute lemon zest)
    • ¾cup/80 grams fresh blueberries
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (16 servings)

258 calories; 14 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 22 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 58 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

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 325 degrees and line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper so it hangs over the edges on all sides by a few inches. (You may need to use two pieces of parchment.)

  2. Step 2

    Make the crust: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse to combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest and salt. Add butter and pulse until a crumbly dough forms, about 10 seconds. (Or mix dry ingredients in a bowl and use pastry cutter to cut in butter, clumping the mixture together in your hands until it holds together.) Press dough into prepared pan. Bake until light golden, 25 to 35 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    As crust bakes, make the curd: In a medium pot, whisk together the granulated sugar, lemon juice, egg yolks, whole eggs, cornstarch and fine sea salt until well combined. Place over medium heat and stir with a heatproof rubber spatula (or wooden spoon), making sure to scrape around the sides and edges of the pot, until mixture is simmering and thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Bring mixture to a boil and let cook for about 30 seconds, but no longer than 1 minute. Immediately strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Stir in butter, lemon zest and lime zest, and stir until butter melts. Stir in blueberries.

  5. Step 5

    Pour mixture over crust, then stir to evenly distribute berries. Return to oven, and bake until blueberries begin to burst and curd starts to turn golden around the edges, 33 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator until thoroughly cold before cutting, at least 3 hours. Dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar right before serving.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
1,248 user ratings
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Comments

Matthew

In Step 4, does the curd go from the bowl back into the medium pot to keep cooking until the butter melts?

Marco

I've never put cornstarch in my curd. Is this to counteract the moisture supplied by the blueberries? It hasn't been necessary in the recipes that I've made

Erin

Can you offer advice regarding blueberries? Out here in the midwest, we more frequently find the big, fat, juicy, slightly sweeter blueberries (that are great for eating out of hand) as opposed to the smaller, more sour, more intense new england berries. IMHO, the photo's berries are *very* small.

Mike

a sublime lemon bar can be achieved! - add blueberries in the last 10 min of baking, avoids runny batter and preserves photogenicity - 1 cup of sugar is plenty sweet enough - poppy seeds in the crust (because why not?) Best enjoyed on a summer day

Ken

Tried this twice without reading comments. Both times came out way too sweet for most to have it edible. I try to spoil my women bartenders with sweets. Both times it was a fail, though I got feed back that their kids with sweet tooth liked the small squares. Kids are kids and like sugar. Adults are a different taste. Salvaged the batch by serving with vanilla ice cream. Third time around I cut the granulated sugar for the curd to a third or 1/2 cup, unsalted butter to 8 tbsp and it came out a lot better. I have a diabetic roommate, the recipe is not good for them. It needs to be balanced with way less added sugar.

Vanessa

I’ve only ever made lemon bars with Ina’s recipe - I will return to that one. I made this but ended with a soupy mess - I think I underestimated what boil meant. It should probably look like a lava boil and not the light boil I had it at. Making the curd separately just seems like more work and dishes. Ina’s method is less butter, less dishes and more lemon bars.

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