Quick & Easy Lemon Bars, Gluten & Dairy Free

Buenos días friends!  I hope everyone had a great 3 day weekend!  Did you guys do anything fun?  I stayed home, sat around and had the laziest of weekends.  Sometimes I forget how nice it is to just chillax at home!  I zoned out on the internet for hours at a time, watched 'Cloud Atlas', napped, advanced to level 100 on Candy Crush (my guilty pleasure!), did a little online shopping, tried a youtube makeup tutorial, and the baked lemon bars that I'm about to share with you.

I absolutely LOVE lemon bars.  Unfortunately, lemon bars are filled with sugar, butter, and more sugar.....YUCK!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and had been dying to try it.  I'm so glad that I did because this is a definite winner!  Its a much healthier version of traditional lemon bars that's not too sweet, and the lemon flavor is robust yet not overpowering.  The traditional shortbread crust is replaced with a gluten free almond meal crust which pairs perfectly with the sweet & tangy flavors in the custard.  Its light, refreshing, and healthy!!  

Whats unique about these lemon bars is that you use an entire lemon (including the peel) to make the filling.  Yep, that's correct, you include the peel.  For this reason, its important to use an organic lemon for this recipe.

Original recipe can be found on the Tasty Yummies blog.

Ingredients

Crust  

• 1 1/2 cups almond meal
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 c. coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Topping

• 1 whole organic lemon, washed
• 4 tbsp. honey
• 1/3 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice (around 2 lemons)
• 2 tbsp. sugar substitute (I use Z Sweet)
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature 
• 4 tsp. arrowroot starch (you can also use tapioca or corn starch)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
• Powdered sugar for topping, or shredded coconut (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line an 8-inch square pan with two pieces of parchment paper, one going in each direction. In a medium bowl, mix all of the crust ingredients together.  Press into the bottom of the pan, making sure that it is even and is pressed into all corners.  Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven.

While the crust is baking, cut the whole lemon in half, remove the seeds, and cut the lemon into chunks. Make sure that there is not additional seeds hiding (those guys are sneaky!)  Put the lemon chunks in a food processor or blender along w/ the honey and additional lemon juice, and blend until the lemon is completely broken up. Add the eggs, arrowroot powder, salt, sugar, and melted coconut oil and blend until almost smooth. 

Once the crust comes out of the oven, lower the temperature of the oven to 300ºF. Pour the lemon topping over the hot crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling is no longer jiggling and is barely set.

Remove the bars from the oven and let them cool completely. Once cooled, carefully lift out the bars out by grasping the parchment paper.  Cut into squares.  Finish with powdered sugar or shredded coconut before serving.

Store in the refrigerator, or these can be frozen as well for about a month.


Please let me know if you end up baking this!  I would love to hear how it turned out for you!! xo