Pompompurin Lemon Bars

 This impromptu bake happened because I had extra egg yolks and lemons lying around!

I had exactly 4 extra yolks and 4 lemons to use up so it's about half the reference recipe I used from Serious Eats.

The only thing was I didn't want to end up having half an egg leftover from a bake that is trying to use up leftovers so I tweaked the ratios slightly to fit a pan size that happens to be slightly bigger than half the pan size in the reference recipe. So everything worked out well!

Although I made lemon bars before in the past over here for a sugar-free version, I prefer this recipe for two reasons. 1. The cookie crust remains crispy even after a few days due to icing sugar used instead of castor sugar. 2. There's no flour in the lemon layer so it's more like lemon custard.

Lemon Bars

Makes about 8 squares in 4x9" tray

Cookie base:

70g plain flour 

35g icing sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 lemon zest

65g cold butter

🔸Blitz everything in blender until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

🔸Press into loaf pan lined with parchment paper overhanging off the edges for ease of lifting off the pan

🔸Bake at 180C for 22-25 min or until lightly browned

Lemon filling:

190g sugar

2 eggs

4 egg yolks

3 lemon zest

Pinch of salt

160g lemon juice (about 3.5-4 lemons)

🔸Whisk everything except lemon juice in a saucepan. Add lemon juice & whisk

🔸Whisk on low heat for 3 min till warm. Increase to med-low heat. Whisk until 77C & thickened

🔸Pour through a sieve onto baked cookie base

🔸Bake at 180C with foil covering tray. I used top heat only for 20min or until firm to avoid burning the cookie base

🔸Cool uncovered. Refrigerate covered for at least 1-2 hours before cutting into squares.

🔸Decorate with melted chocolate. I used my Pompompurin macaron template so I didn't have to pipe by freehand 🤭

Piping chocolate

I set the piped chocolate in the freezer for a few minutes before carefully using tweezers to place them on the bars.

The bars can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

with love,

Phay Shing