Lemon Bar Flags

With Memorial Day coming up, I was so anxious and excited to post this, as it is so festive and perfect for this holiday. But this past weekend, my kitchen turned into a comedy of errors. My go-to recipe for lemon bars failed me big time. For the first time ever, the lemon filling wouldn't set up. So, I thought, "Okay, no problem, I must have misread a quantity, I’ll trash it and start again." The second try was more disastrous than the first. Exasperated, but determined, I gave it yet another shot. Alas, the 3rd try was worst of all. By this point, I was frustrated to tears. What went wrong? I went to the web site where I originally found the recipe to verify the ingredients. Oddly enough, all the quantities under the list of ingredients had question marks instead of numbers.(I've never seen that before.) Needless to say, along with discarding my failed lemon bars, I destroyed the recipe, also. Guess it’s a mystery I’ll never solve. After a good night’s sleep, I felt rejuvenated and went online to find a more reliable recipe. When I came across this posting at Cooking Classy™, I just knew it would work; lots of eggs (unlike my failed version), along with additional egg yolks, which would give it that deep yellow color that's so gorgeous. Woo Hoo! Not only did it work, but it was fantastic! Without a doubt, the best lemon bars I ever tasted. The texture and flavors are everything you imagine a lemon bar to be, and more. Now, for the festive part…..giving it that special patriotic touch, which makes it so fun for this upcoming weekend!  A dusting of powdered sugar over all, some red stripes (via decorator icing) and some blueberries and you’ve got an adorable replica of the American flag. Picnic perfect! And with my new "go-to" recipe for lemon bars (many thanks Jaclyn), preparation is a breeze (once and done, phew).

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) a 13x9-inch baking dish. 
 

In food processor (or mix in a bowl), pulse together flour, powdered sugar, brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add diced butter and pulse until mixtures crumbles (or, if mixing in a bowl, use your fingertips and/or a fork to combine). Press mixture into an even layer on bottom of prepared baking dish (press together any cracks). Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

While crust is baking, begin to prepare filling (because you want to pour prepared filling over hot crust).

Zest and juice lemons. Juice orange.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, flour and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Mix in lemon juice, orange juice and lemon zest. 

Add eggs, egg yolks and heavy cream. Whisk vigorously to blend well. 

Pour mixture over hot crust. Reduce oven temperature to 325° F. Return to oven and bake until filling is just set, about 20 to 25 minutes (I used max time of 25 minutes). Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Cover and chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. 

To decorate: 

Note: one tube of writing gel will only decorate 2 bars. To decorate all, use red decorator icing with writing tip.

Generously dust surface of lemon bars with powdered sugar. (This will be “white” part of American flag, so you want a good amount of coating.) Cut into squares. (I cut 9 squares, but they were on the large side, so you can cut them into smaller sizes if you prefer.) Using red decorator frosting with a thin writing tip, draw about 6 lines across the bar (to represent the flag’s stripes).  

Note: I was only able to decorate 2 bars with one small tube of red gel icing. So, you may want to buy regular red decorator icing, instead of dishing out a lot of cash for several of these small tubes.

Wash and thoroughly dry blueberries. For each “flag” place 6 blueberries in upper left hand corner (to represent stars); 3 on top and 3 directly below that. Decorate remaining cut bars in same manner.

Oops! Mike ate one before I was done decorating.

Store bars in airtight container in refrigerator.

Before serving, let refrigerated bars rest at room temperature about 30 minutes, so it’s slightly firm, but just starting to soften.

LEMON BAR FLAGS
Source:  Cooking Classy™ (Lemon Bars)
Posted by: www.meldingmagic.com

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, diced into cubes and softened

Filling:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 6 Tablespoons flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons lemon zest
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup fresh navel orange juice
• 4 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3-1/2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Toppings:

• Powdered sugar
• Fresh blueberries
• Red writing gel, or red decorator icing

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter (or spray with non-stick cooking spray) a 13x9-inch baking dish.
2. In food processor (or mix in a bowl), pulse together flour, powdered sugar, brown sugar and 1/2
    teaspoon salt. Add diced butter and pulse until mixtures crumbles (or, if mixing in a bowl, use your
    fingertips and/or a fork to combine). Press mixture into an even layer on bottom of prepared baking
    dish (press together any cracks). Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
3. While crust is baking, begin to prepare filling (because you want to pour prepared filling over hot
    crust).
4. In large mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, flour and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Mix in lemon juice,
    orange juice and lemon zest. Add eggs, egg yolks and heavy cream. Whisk vigorously to blend well.
5. Pour mixture over hot crust. Reduce oven temperature to 325° F. Return to oven and bake until filling
     is just set, about 20 to 25 minutes (I used max time of 25 minutes). Cool on wire rack for 1 hour.
    Cover and chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
6. To decorate: Generously dust surface of lemon bars with powdered sugar. (This will be “white” part of
    American flag, so you want a good amount of coating.) Cut into squares. (I cut 9 squares, but they
    were on the large side, so you can cut them into smaller sizes if you prefer.) Using red decorator
    frosting with a thin writing tip, draw about 6 lines across the bar (to represent the flag’s stripes).
    Wash and thoroughly dry blueberries. For each “flag” place 6 blueberries in upper left hand corner (to
    represent stars); 3 on top and 3 directly below that. Decorate remaining cut bars in same manner.
7. Store bars in airtight container in refrigerator. Before serving, let refrigerated bars rest at room
    temperature about 30 minutes, so it’s slightly firm, but just starting to soften.