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Lemon Earl Grey Squares

My sister and dad have their birthdays within 2 days of each other. And this year, my mom was away on Mother’s Day so we didn’t get to celebrate. So when I went home to celebrate the birthdays of my sister and dad, I wanted to bring a little something for my mom as well. When the last issue of Cooking Light had a recipe for Lemon Early Grey Squares, I knew they would be perfect. My mom is obsessed with everything bergamot. She’s also a huge citrus (specifically lemon) fan. I hope she likes them!
Lemon Earl Grey Squares

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

  • Cooking spray
  • 5 3/5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Earl Grey tea bags, divided
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces

For the Filling:

  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons worth)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind (about 2 lemons worth)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. First prepare the crust. Line a 9-inch square metal baking pan with foil that extends over the edges. (The recipe said to use an 8-inch pan, I only had a 9-inch). Spray with cooking spray. Weigh of lightly spoon 5.6 ounces flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. (Seriously, I never bake without my Oxo scale anymore, it’s fan-tastic). Combine the flour, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon tea leaves from a tea bag, and salt in a bowl. If there is more than one teaspoon of tea leaves in the tea bag, just discard the remaining leaves.

Add the pieces of the butter to the flour mixture.

Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter (or just use two knives) until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Not really sure what coarse meal looks like…

Add the mixture to the pan and press down.

Bake at 350 degrees for 19 minutes or until lightly browned.

Ok. So it’s not exactly browned..

While the crust is baking, zest your lemons and set aside. Squeeze the lemon juice into a medium microwave-safe bowl. (I squeezed them over a mesh sieve to catch all of the seeds).

Microwave the juice for 30 seconds on high. Steep the remaining tea bag in the hot lemon juice. Cover the bowl and steep for 10 minutes.

Squeeze out all the juice from the tea bag back into the bowl. Add the lemon zest and eggs to the juice. Whisk until combined.

In a small bowl, combine the granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and the baking powder.

Add the sugar mixture to the lemon mixture and stir with whisk until well combined.

When the crust is finished, remove from the oven and pour the lemon filling onto the hot crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes, or until set.

Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack. Let cool for 30 minutes. Remove the squares from the pan by lifting the foil. Remove the foil from the squares and cut into 16 equal bars.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

These smelled amazing while baking (I am my mother’s daughter). I was hoping they’d taste half as good as they made my apartment smell!

I’ve never made lemon bars before so I was unsure what the consistency should be. But I’m happy with how they turned out!

I (of course) had to take a bite to make sure they were good enough for my mom. And then I had to take another because they were amazing!  I hope I have some left by the time I see my mom!

Comments

  3. Love these! I’m a big fan of traditional lemon bars as it is, but the addition of Earl Grey is brilliant. Gotta love Cooking Light – their recipes are almost completely fool-proof, on top of being healthy and delicious.
    Hope your mother enjoyed the bars. 🙂

    Reply

  9. I can relate to your mom, Kaitlin. Earl Grey Tea is AWEsome! And the bergamot/citrus flavor it has sounds like a perfect addition to the lemon bars. Bet the family loved ’em, hey?
    Oh, and congrats on making Foodbuzz’s Top 9 😀
    Blessings,
    Jen

    Reply

  13. These sound wonderful and I wanted to pin them on my “Time for Tea” Pinterest board, but my “Pin It” button wouldn’t work on this page. Any idea why? (Don’t miss out on the free Pinterest publicity!)

    Reply

  14. Earl Grey is such a good idea in lemon bars! I can’t wait to try it out myself, thanks for the suggestion!

    Reply

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