Got Lemons? Zesty Lemon Bars Recipe

This is the first of my "Tried and True Recipes"... (easy peasy lemon squeezy) Lemon Bars!  

I had five lemons and didn't care to make lemonade, so I decided to make Bake Sale Lemon Bars... though this recipe only used two lemons! These have a 4.5/5 rating from allrecipes.com and my family really loved them (and they're not big sweets/dessert eaters)!

The following recipe makes 36 servings.. but I thought it made more like 15 -20 sizable ones like the ones in the above picture I took from the site. I think it's a good amount to share with friends and family!

I baked it in a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Prep Time:15 Min
Cook Time: 45 Min
Ready In: 1 Hr

Ingredients

For the base:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

For the lemon top:

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup lemon juice (+ zest!)
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. (I used wax paper which wasn't the greatest idea. After, I thought it would have been better to use a spring form pan)
   
2. Combine the flour, 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar, and butter. Pat dough into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until slightly golden. (Remember, for convection ovens, either lower the temperature or reduce baking time by a bit!) While the crust is baking, whisk together eggs, white sugar, flour, and lemon juice until frothy. Pour this lemon mixture over the hot crust.
4. Return to the preheated oven for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Dust the top with confectioners' sugar. Cut into squares.

* Upon first taste, I thought they were wayyy too sweet (I followed the recipe pretty closely... but it wouldn't be a "nat" recipe if I didn't change something!), so my suggestion would be to reduce the amount of sugar by a third and/or substitute with brown sugar or something.
* I personally enjoy a rich lemon flavour so I grated a bunch of lemon zest into the liquid batter, which made it more tart and zesty.
I actually took some pictures throughout the baking process but... well, let's just say my end product left a lot to be desired appearance-wise (I was never one for food presentation)...

For the full recipe + if you want to change serving size, click HERE.