Perfect Citrus Bars Recipes

TROPICAL CITRUS BARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). In large bowl, beat 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup of the coconut and the butter with electric mixer on low speed, or mix with spoon, until crumbly. Press in ungreased 13x9-inch pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown.
• Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat remaining 1/4 cup coconut, eggs, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the baking powder, lemon peel, lemon juice, lime peel and lime juice with electric mixer on low speed, or mix with spoon. Pour over partially baked crust.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Run sharp knife around edges of pan to loosen bars. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons powdered sugar. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows.

PERFECT CITRUS BARS

Steps:

• Crust:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, wheat germ, confectioners' sugar, and salt. Add butter, and cut in using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers, until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas.
• Press evenly into a 12 1/2-by-17 1/2-inch rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool.
• Filling:In a medium bowl, whisk together, eggs, sugar, and flour. Add lemon and lime juice, lemon and lime zest, and salt. Whisk to combine. Pour over cooled crust.
• Bake until center is set, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

FLORIDA CITRUS BARS

Steps:

• For the crust: Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang for easy removal.
• In the bowl of a food processor, add the vanilla wafers, butter, granulated sugar, zest and a pinch of salt. Pulse until the mixture is a very fine crumb and is starting to clump together. Press the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Chill the dish in the freezer while you make the filling.
• For the filling: Add the cream cheese, condensed milk, confectioners' sugar, grapefruit zest, lemon zest and orange zest to a large bowl. Whip together with an electric hand mixer until completely combined and there are no clumps of cream cheese. Fold in the whipped cream. Remove the crust from the freezer and pour in the filling, using a spatula to smooth it into an even layer. Return to the freezer and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• For the topping: When the filling is set, remove the whole bar from the baking dish and place on a cutting board; removing the parchment. Decorate the top with the orange, grapefruit and lemon rounds, then carefully slice into bars. Serve immediately.

THE BEST LEMON BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
• Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. For a festive tray, make another pan using limes instead of lemons and adding a drop of green food coloring to give a very pale green. After both pans have cooled, cut into uniform 2 inch squares and arrange in a checker board fashion.

CITRUS BARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line the base and sides of a shallow rectangular tin (about 23 x 33cm) with baking parchment, snipping the corners so that it comes up the sides of the tin. Tip the flour, sugar and butter into a food processor and whizz until it forms fine crumbs. Tip into the prepared tin and smoothly level with the back of a metal spoon, pressing it down lightly. Bake for 20-25 mins until pale golden.
• To make the topping, finely grate the zest from the lemons and orange and squeeze out all the juice. Measure the juice - you need 120ml. Whisk together the eggs and sugar using an electric whisk for 1 min, then add the citrus zest and juices, and whisk again briefly. Sift in the flour and whisk well to mix. Pour over the shortbread and bake for 15-20 mins until the topping has just set. Cool completely in the tin, then lift out of the tin using the lining paper. Dust thickly with icing sugar and cut into 3 down the length and 6 across to make 18 bars.

CITRUS BARS

Steps:

• Make crust: In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, and salt until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup ice water. Pulse just until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary, add 1/4 cup more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overmix. Form dough into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour (or up to overnight).
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a 12-by-16-inch rectangle (patch any holes well). Place in a 10-by-14-by-1-inch rimmed jelly-roll pan with dough going up the sides; trim overhang. Prick dough all over with a fork and freeze until firm, 20 minutes. Line dough with parchment paper, leaving overhang on all sides. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges are dry, about 15 minutes. Remove parchment and weights; bake until bottom is dry and flaky, about 10 minutes.
• Make filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together citrus zests and juices, granulated sugar, and eggs until well combined. Pour into crust and bake until custard is just set in center, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack, 1 hour. To serve, dust with confectioners' sugar and cut into 18 squares.

SUSAN'S PERFECT LEMON BARS

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°F.
• Lightly butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and line it with a sheet of parchment paper.
• Dot parchment paper with butter, then lay a second sheet of parchment crosswise over the first one, allowing the ends to extend over the top edge of the pan by about 1 inch.
• To Mix Crust in Food Processor: In a food processor, fitted with steel blade, pulse together the flour, confectioner's sugar, cornstarch and salt to mix well.
• Add 12 Tablespoons butter and process to blend (about 8 to 10 seconds), then pulse until mixture is a pale yellow color and resembles a coarse meal, (about three-1-second bursts).
• To Mix Crust By Hand: Mix flour, confectioner's sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a medium bowl.
• Freeze butter and grate it on the large holes of a box grater into the flour mixture.
• Toss butter pieces to coat.
• Rub coated butter pieces between your fingers for a minute, until flour turns pale yellow and coarse.
• Sprinkle crust mixture into parchment lined pan.
• Using both hands, firmly press mixture into an even, 1/4" layer over the entire pan bottom and about 1/2" up the sides.
• Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
• Remove chilled crust and bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Filling: Prepare filling while crust is baking.
• In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, sugar and flour.
• Stir in lemon zest, juice, milk and salt; stirring to blend well.
• Remove crust from oven, and reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
• Stir filling mixture to reblend and pour over warm crust.
• Return bars to oven and bake about 20 minutes, or until filling feels firm when lightly touched.
• Remove from oven and place pan on wire rack to cool until almost room temperature (at least 30 minutes).
• Grasp the edges of the lengthwise parchment paper (long sides of the pan) and lift the lemon bars out of the pan and onto a cutting board or counter.
• Carefully peel the paper down from the sides and using a pizza cutter or knife, slice them into serving size bars, wiping pizza cutter or knife clean between cuts as necessary.
• Sieve confectioner's sugar over bars, if desired.
• Leftover bars can be sealed in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days.