Ooey-Gooey Lemon Bars

Whiping up some lemon bars because something has to feel like summer is on the rise since the weather on the East Coast is not cooperating.

I have never made or consumed lemon bars before. I saw a picture of them on instagram and was like "I love a good crust". So I put my baking hat on and decided to whip up some homemade Lemon Bars from scratch. These are the moistest, gooiest and best lemon bars to ever be made, I am not joking.

Crust ingredients:

2 Cups of Almond Flour

4 Flax Eggs (4 Tbsp of Ground Flax Seeds+ 10 Tbsp of water...mix in a bowl until it becomes gelatinous)

1 Cup of Earth Balance Vegan Salted Butter

1/4 Cup of Sugar

Lemon Filling Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 Cup Sugar

4 Flax Eggs (4 Tbsp of Ground Flax Seeds+10Tbsp of water (same process as the crust ingredients with the gelatinous texture))

2 Fresh Lemons squeezed to make lemon juice. It came out to about 1/2 cup of lemon juice.

1/4 Cup of Flour

Lemon Rinds Ingredients:

1 Whole Lemon Skin

2 Tbsp sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take out a 13x9 inch baking dish and spray with coconut oil or pam.

In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar. A hand mixer will work just fine but if you fancy AF you can use a Kitchen Aide (maybe one day when I am rich and famous I can be sponsored by Kitchen Aide and receive all the cool kitchen equipment). Slowly add the flax "eggs"about 1/4 of the mixture at a time. Mix well. Then add a 1/2 cup of almond flour at a time until the crust becomes unified. Pour the contents into the baking dish. Place the baking dish in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. The crust should rise slightly and become golden brown. I used the old fashion knife in the center trick make sure it was done. The crust will be about 1 and 1/2 inches thick but I am a #crustgamestrong kinda gal. If you are not you can use a larger pan to make a thinner crust.

While the crust is cooking, you can start to make your lemon filling. First start by squeezing the juice out of your lemons. If you are a strong independent woman like myself, then your two guns will do just fine but if you have some appliance to make this process hella easier then please choose the easier version. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and sugar. Slowly add in the flax eggs. Add in the flour. Mix well to make sure no ingredient is left behind. Take the crust out of the oven and pour the lemon filling right over. Place the baking dish back in the oven for 20 minutes.

When you take the bars out of the oven, the filling won't be set. DO NOT BE ALARMED. The cooling process will handle that for ya! While the bars are cooling, you can start making your decorative AF sugar-coated lemon rinds.

I just googled how to spell lemon "rinds" and the benefits of eating the peel came up: Excellent source of Vitamin C, reduces oxidative stress, helps fight cancer, packed with fiber, potassium, magnesium, calcium, folate, and beta carotene. So hell yea, I am going to have my rinds and eat it too!

Using a sharp knife, cut the skin of the lemons into small shreds! Place a little water (about 1/2 tbsp) and the sugar over the lemon peels and mix so eat rind is coated and let sit for about 30 minutes so that the lemon peels loose their tartness and become sweet candies! Place the rinds evenly throughout the top of your lemon bars and pat your self on the back because you are now a fancy ass pastry chef who just used an ingredient like lemon rinds.

**Will make about 9 huge, thick, gooey bars**

I, myself ingested 4 of these babies over two days and brough some to my father who I asked..."would these sell" and he was like oh hell yea! So get to baking y'all!