milling mondays: whole wheat lemon bars

 

 

There is something refreshing and sweet about lemon bars. They are just so tart and yummy. To make it even better, making them whole wheat doesn't change the taste, just the nutrition.

 

 

Yummy Whole Wheat Lemon Bars

 

Ingredients

 

Crust:

 

2 cups + 3Tbs whole wheat flour (1/3 hard wheat berries and 2/3 soft wheat berries)

1/2 cup powdered sugar + more for topping

2 Tbs cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter

 

Filling:

 

4 eggs, lightly beaten 

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp finely graded lemon peel

3/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup half-and-half or milk

 

 

Directions

 

 

Preheat oven to 350F.

 

If you mill your own flour, mill 1 1/2 cup soft wheat berries and 1/2 cup hard wheat berries. I use the pastry setting on my WonderMill.  Since this is a dessert dough, sift the flour twice removing some of the bran in order to make it less dense.

In a mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt.

Cut in the butter. Using a pastry blender or fork, blend in the butter until it is completely mixed into the flour mixture giving it a crumbly consistency.

 



 

 

 

Pour the crumbly flour mixture into a greased 9x13 baking pan (or use parchment paper -this makes it easier to remove it from the pan later on).

 

Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. 

 

 

Bake the crust for 18-20 minutes until the edges are golden.

 

While the crust is baking, it is time to make the filling.

 

In a mixing bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, 3 Tbs flour, lemon peel, lemon juice and half-and-half. 

 

 

Once the crust is done baking, pour the filling over the hot crust. 

 

 

 

Bake the crust and filling for 15-20 minutes until the center is set.

 

 

Finally let it cool on a rack.

 

 

Once it is cool, sift powdered sugar on top and cut them into bars.



 

Enjoy!