Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Lemon Shortbread Bars...Buttery Good!


I got this recipe out of my Cooking Pleasures magazine. It is a dense and very good cookie. When I decided to make these, I realized that I was out of lemons but had an orange. Well, it's citrus, so I tried it. The result was excellent. The orange flavor is just so subtle. Now if you make the recipe and put it in a 15x10-inch rimmed baking sheet sprayed with PAM, you get a thinner bar. Bake them for 25 minutes or until golden. Drizzle with melted white chocolate and let stand until set. This was a suggestion in the magazine. Since I used orange flavor, I used melted milk chocolate. You might also dip these in chocolate, at an angle on one end would be pretty. I am thinking of adding this to the Christmas cookie platter, and use colored sanding sugar for the top on some of them.

Lemon Shortbread Bars
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened, cut up
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil; spray foil with cooking spray. Whisk flour, 1 cup of the sugar, lemon peel and salt in large bowl.
2. With pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Press dough into pan; sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and top is golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
24 bars

6 comments:

  1. Sound great. I love the sound of orange cookies dipped in choclate.

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  2. Sounds like a lovely cookie. Shortbread flavored with orange and dipped in chocolate has delicious written all over it.

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  3. This can't help but be delicious. Orange and chocolate is a wonderful combination.

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  4. Oh my! Another fabulous baked treat. Shortbread is one of my favorite types of cookies. Of course, I could never just eat one shortbread bar, i would eat half a dozen! They just melt in your mouth. I think that was a nice change from lemon to orange.

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  5. Linda, I can't wait to try these. I love nothing better, than a lemon bar. Thanks...

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