Its Bake off season and we are following along at work with our own version!  For week one we have decided to make tray bakes and as we work for a company that specialises in international markets I thought Id try something different – and after googling and pinteresting I came up with the idea of lemon bars

lemon bars, for the uninitiated, are an american treat with a shortcrust base and lemon curd style set topping. As everyone else will be making either brownies, blondies or flapjacks I reckoned this might give me the edge.

These were surprisingly easy to make – thanks to my trusty kenwood – and were really delicious so here is the recipe in all its yumminess…

Ingredients

for the base

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

for the topping

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• juice and zest of 3 lemons

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175c gas mark 5
2. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden.
4. Meanwhile in the cleaned out mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/3 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs, lemon juice & zest. Pour over the baked crust. (this will be really liquidy)
5. Pop back into the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar and cutting into bars