Lemon Crumb Bars

Lately, I have been purchasing a lot of lemons. I been using them in my tea and on top of my roasted asparagus. I figured my family had enough of lemons. When I suggested I tried making these lemon crumb bars, they encouraged me to make them immediately. My son even helped me make them. These bars have a center of lemon filling with a crumble top. They are really good. They take a little work and I don't think my son will volunteer next time to help. The filling is the trickiest part of this dish. They are a nice change from a traditional lemon bar.

Lemon Crumb Bars
 Dough:
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 egg
zest of 1 small lemon
lemon cream filling (recipe below)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, flour, and salt with a fork.
4. With a pastry blender or two forks, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles pea size chunks.
5. Mix in the egg and the lemon zest. 
6. Spread half of the crumble mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Set the other half of the mixture aside. 
7. Pour the lemon cream filling over the half of the crumble mixture in the baking dish. 
8. Top the lemon filling evenly with the remaining crumble mixture.
9. Bake the dish for 35 minutes or until the top is slightly brown and the center is set. 
10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before refrigerating to chill.

Lemon Cream filling:
1 cup sugar
zest of 3 small lemons
4 large eggs
3/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 cup unsalted butter, cubed and softened

Directions:

1. In a heatproof bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. 
2. Whisk in the eggs for 1 minute. 
3. Whisk in the lemon juice.
4. Place the bowl over a pot to make a double boiler. 
5. Heat the mixture until the cream thickens. A candy thermometer should read around 175 degrees.
6. Remove the mixture from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 10 minutes.
7. Over medium speed, whip in 2 Tbsp of butter at a time. 
8. Continuing mixing for a total of 3 minutes until the mixture is thick and pale. 

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats.

One year ago...............................I made Macadamia Nut Pie.
Two years ago.............................I made Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles.
Three years ago...........................I made Patty Melt.

Did you already know......................
-A lemon tree can produce 500 lemons a year.
-A lemon tree grows to 10 to 20 feet tall.
-Lemons flourish wildly in Australia.