Lemon Bars

When I start thinking about favorite yearly events I always come up with two related to our lovely little lemon tree. The first, in spring when the tree is in bloom. That heavenly, intoxicating citrus bloom smell. I can hardly wait! The second, early winter when the lemons from our tree (and all the other citrus, for that matter), are ripe and ready to be enjoyed.

Several years ago, when we were living in Seattle, I encountered my first lemon tree in bloom at a nursery. Right then and there I decided that I would someday own a lemon tree. I may have to build a green house, but I would own a lemon tree. As such, when we moved to Tucson getting a lemon tree was a no-brainer.

We have a dwarf Meyer Lemon, which produces some of the most fragrant decadent fruit you can imagine. It’s a cross between a lemon and an orange, so it’s slightly sweeter than a straight lemon. We actually only got one lemon off of the tree this year (apparently citrus trees cycle up and down with their abundance of production). Because Meyer’s are so perfect for lemonade, I saved ours for that purpose.

The lemons for these bars came from next door. Our neighbors Malcolm and Barbara were lovely enough to plant a full-sized lemon tree next to the wall we share. It’s still small (they only put it in last year), but it produced a copious amount of lemons this year. Because they won’t be back in town until mid-February, we took the liberty of rescuing what lemons we could reach to save them from an ill fate. So, thank you Malcolm & Barbara!

It is already starting, but soon there will be more citrus than we can consume. The folks on the other side of us have an orange and a grapefruit. They usually take care of the orange but always have lots of extra grapefruits. Hmmm…grapefruit bars? If you have a yummy grapefruit recipe, please share 🙂

For now, I’m thrilled to have these Lemon Bars to wash away any cold-weather blues we may have been feeling. The dough that makes up the bottom of the bars is basically a shortbread, the top essentially a custard or curd, if you like. I sweeten the custard/curd with honey instead of regular sugar because I love the way lemons and honey go together. These bars are bright and tart, but not too tart. They taste like lemons in the best possible way!

Lemon Bars

• 1/2 lb unsalted butter, room temp (16 T)
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/4 t almond extract
• 3 c all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/8 t kosher salt
• 7 large eggs
• 1 c honey
• 2 T lemon zest
• 1 c lemon juice, fresh squeezed
• powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat your oven to 350° and greasing a 9×13 baking dish.

Cream together the butter, sugar and almond extract. Gradually add in 2 c of AP flour and all of the salt. Press the resulting dough into your baking dish. It’s likely that the dough will get really sticky, more so the warmer your hands are. If it’s hard to work with, stick the dish (dough and all) in to the fridge for a few minutes to help it firm up. It will be a lot easier to work with once it’s chilled. Prick the dough with a fork once it’s all pressed into the dish.

Bake the shortbread bottom at 350° for 25 minutes, until it begins to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool.

Beat together the eggs, honey, zest, juice and remaining 1 c of AP flour.

Pour the curd mixture over the shortbread and bake (still at 350°) for 25-30 minutes. You want everything to be firmly set before you pull it from the oven – no jiggling. I baked mine for 30 minutes, but you oven could run hotter, so check at 30.

Cool completely and cut into squares or triangles, depending on your preference. I used my dough scraper, sprayed with cooking oil, to slice even bars. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Mesquite Flour Pancakes

Early last fall one of my coworkers surprised me by bringing in two large buckets filled with mesquite pods she had collected from her property. She knew that I have a baking habit and thought I might be able to use the pods. All I had to do was take them to get ground into flour/meal. In Tucson we have a great organization called Desert Harvesters who set up at several locations around town in the fall to grind mesquite pods. Sadly, I managed to miss two different weekends when they had set up to mill the pods. In the end, the lovely pods that I had been gifted became infested with some sort of bug while sitting in my garage. I can not tell you how wasteful I felt. I had such a great opportunity, and I blew it.

Fortunately, acquiring mesquite flour isn’t terribly difficult in Tucson. Mesquites are the most common shrub/tree in the desert Southwest. The pods, ground into a flour or meal, have been a part of local cuisine for hundreds of years. In fact, several studies have show that, like many other desert foods, the sweetness of the meal is deceiving. In truth, mesquite flour can be wonderful for controlling blood sugar levels. Obviously, this is a boon to people with diabetes, but I think it’s really great for all of us.

I picked up some flour from my beloved Native Seeds/SEARCH. It is also available here, here and here. It’s a little pricey, but is used in smaller quantities and in combination with regular flour.

These pancakes have no sugar in the batter. In the picture, they are show with honey as a topping. For the gluten-free folks out there, just substitute your favorite gluten free flour mix for the all-purpose portion of this recipe and you’re all set!

Mesquite Flour Pancakes

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup mesquite flour
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups milk, maybe slightly less
• 2 eggs, well-beaten
• 1/2 stick butter, melted

In a large bowl sift together the all-purpose flour, mesquite flour, salt and baking powder.

In a separate, smaller bowl whisk together the eggs, butter and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. There will probably be some lumps, but if you mix too much your pancakes will get tough.

Pour your batter onto a hot , lightly greased skillet in 2 T increments for silver dollar sized pancakes or in 1/4 c dollops for full-sized pancakes.

Serve with warm honey, maple syrup or fruit preserves.

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UPDATED 1.7.09:

Check out Peter’s comment below if you are planning to make these gluten free.  The picture below is his and shows the difference between waffles with mesquite flour subbed in using his method and plain GF flour waffles (looks like moslty just color to me).  He offers some experience with GF flour mixtures that I don’t have, hopefully it helps!