Luscious Lemon Bars

I love lemon bars, like love love lemon bars. I love the lemony taste and will add even extra lemon juice to get more of that luscious lemon flavor. I have used the standard lemon bar recipe for years and wasn't never really wowed but I made it for that lemon taste I craved. Today, however, my opinion of lemon bars have changed because of this awesome recipe I recently stumbled upon. Do you crave that almost pucker when eating lemon bars, do you want that yummy crust? Make these bars and your life will forever be changed as you know it.

First, gather together your ingredients for the crust: 1 3/4 cup flour, 2/3 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1 1/2 stick butter (12 tablespoons), room temperature, 1 egg yolk. For the filling: 1/2 cup flour, 2 1/4 cup sugar, zest of 1 lemon, 1 cup fresh lemon juice, 6 eggs plus 1 yolk.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your 9X13 pan. In your food processor, combine the flour, powdered sugar and cornstarch. Add in the butter and pulse until the ingredients look like wet sand.
*side note, I used my mixer for the above step because my food processor isn't large enough to hold that much flour and butter. The results turned out the same.

Add in the egg yolk to the above ingredients.

Press the dough into an even layer on the bottom of your baking dish.

Freeze the dough for 15 minutes and then bake the crust for about 20 minutes until lightly browned. Remove the crust from the oven and let cool.

While the crust is cooling, it is time to make the lemon filling.
In your mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar.

Add in the lemon zest and juice. I added zest of 2 lemons because I love that lemon flavor.

Whisk in the eggs and extra yolk.

 Pour the lemon filling over the crust.

Before you put the bars back into the oven, reduce the temperature to 300 degrees. Bake the filling for about 30 minutes or until the filling sets. Cool the bars in the refrigerator for an hour.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar, then serve, eat and enjoy!