Pink Lemonade Bars

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I know everyone loves lemon bars, those delicious bars of a shortbread bottom layer filled with a gooey lemon topping. I have found a recipe to amp up the lemon bar or maybe even rival it,the pink lemonade bar! I bit into these bars and all I said was wow, there was just something about these bars that make me want to eat a whole pan to myself but I won't... unless these bars have negative calories in that case I will. Drop everything you have planned tonight and make these bars because you will thank me later. Or maybe if you aren't interested, maybe the pink color alone will convince you to make these for Valentine's Day.  On to the recipe!First, gather together your ingredients.You need 9 tablespoons of butter softened,  1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1 3/4 cup white granulated sugar, 3 egg whites, 1 egg, 2/3 cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed is better trust me), 2 tablespoons lemon zest, 1-2 cups raspberries (defrosted), 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a square pan, line it with parchment paper, if not butter the bottom and side of your pan. In your mixing bowl, combine the 9 tablespoons of butter, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup of flour. I liked to cream my butter first then add in the sugar and flour.

Mix until all the ingredients are completely incorporated. Then take the dough out and press it in the bottom of your pan. 

 

Bake this in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a sun-kissed tan color, or oven-kissed I guess would be appropriate. Clean out your mixing bowl because you will it again for the lemon filling. In your mixing bowl, add the egg whites and egg, the rest of the sugar, the remaining amount of flour, the lemon juice, lemon zest. 

 

 Mix all these ingredients together and then in a sieve over the bowl, add the raspberry juice. Press the raspberries down to extract all the juice completely. 

 

 Then mix these ingredients together. 

 

Pour the filling over the cooled bottom layer and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, make sure the filling is set when you take it out. 

 Cool down the bars and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top layer, then cut into squares, serve, eat and enjoy!