Lemon Curd Squares from Williams-Sonoma Dessert

Lemon Curd Squares - made July 27, 2024 from Williams Sonoma Dessert by Abigail Johnson Dodge

Crust

1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour

1/3 cup (70 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup (4 ounces) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Filling

3/4 cup (160 grams) granulated sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

3 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons heavy cream

confectioners sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Pulse briefly until blended. Add the butter pieces and pulse until dough forms moist crumbs and sticks together when pinched, about 1 minute. Press the dough into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake the crust until pale golden, 20-22 minutes. Let crust cool completely on rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
3. Make the filling: whisk together the sugar, flour, salt and zest. Add the eggs, lemon juice and heavy cream; whisk until just blended. Carefully pour mixture over the baked crust.
4. Bake until the filling is set but still jiggles slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 20 minutes or longer if using a metal pan. Let cool on a rack for about 30 minutes. Cool completely before lightly dusting with confectioners sugar and cutting and serving.

Although I have a long-standing, battle-tested recipe for lemon bars, every once in awhile, I test out a new recipe for them. I'm on this never-ending, Marie-Kondo-style quest to thin out my recipe book collection but before I give any cookbook away, I flip through the pages and gather up any recipe I might want to try. I've hung onto this one for awhile from the Williams Sonoma dessert cookbook and am finally getting around to testing it. 

I signed up to provide desserts again for the families staying at Ronald McDonald House and thought this would be a good option as a summer evening dessert. You make the crust in a food processor and keep pulsing until a dough forms. That was easy enough. I didn't build up the crust on the sides as there wasn't that much dough and I wanted a thicker bottom layer as the crust.

The lemon curd was quite thin and liquidy compared to my other recipe and made a thicker layer than the crust. I forgot to tap the pan gently before sliding it into the oven so you can see all the air bubbles that rose to the surface during baking. Fortunately, with lemon bars, you can cover those popped air bubbles and craters with a good dusting of powdered sugar.

If you're a fan of tart lemon curd filling, this one's for you. If you prefer a thicker curd layer than crust, this is also for you.

I myself am a bit ambivalent about both. I thought these were a trifle too tart for me. Which wasn't surprising given the 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice the recipe called for (my go-to recipe only uses 3 tablespoons). I would've liked a thicker crust as well. Overall it was good but probably something I wouldn't make again, at least not for me. For lemon aficionados, it's a good option.