Lemon Bars with an Almond Shortbread Crust

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Wash, zest and juice the lemons, setting both the zest and the juice aside in a bowl.

3. For the crust: Mix together the powdered sugar and the butter listed in the crust ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. I used the paddle attachment on medium speed.

4. When the butter and sugar are creamed together (looks like frosting) scrape down the bowl and add in the remaining crust ingredients and mix until combined.

5. Line a 7 x 11 inch glass baking dish with either parchment paper or a Silpat. The edges of paper might hang over, but that is fine. Press the crust firmly into the pan, spreading it evenly with your hands.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges just start to brown.

7. While the crust is in the oven, make the lemon curd. Whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a medium sized saucepan.

8. Stir in the reserved lemon juice and lemon zest (from step 2), and the salt.

9. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly. Watch for the mixture to thicken. This will take under 10 minutes.

10. Immediately when the mixture thickens, remove the saucepan from the heat. Turn off the burner. Strain the mixture into a bowl through a fine strainerto remove any clumps. This takes me a few minutes, and some stirring to get the liquid to keep moving through the strainer.

11. Return the strained lemon mixture to the saucepan and put it back on the burner (which will still be warm, but off at this point) and add in the butter, stirring until it melts.

12. Pour the lemon curd over the finished crust, spreading it out if needed.

13. Place the baking dish back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes or however long it takes for the edges of the lemon curd to set. Remove dish from oven and set it on a rack.

14. Let the lemon bars cool, and then place them in the refrigerator for a few hours before cutting and serving.

Recipe adapted from: The Kitchn.