Lemon Bar Amy

Meyer Lemon Bar

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This recipe comes to me from my friend Amy. She's been making these Lemon bars for our summertime concerts in the park for a long time. As long as we've know her, the girls have been calling Amy, "Lemon Bar Amy", because of her delicious Lemon Bars.

Meyer lemons

When Spencer and I moved into our first house in Pasadena, 18 years ago, we had several fruit trees, including this odd lemon-orange kind of tree. I had really wanted a grocery store lemon tree with firm skin for zesting. I soon found out what we had was a Meyer lemon tree, instead of the  Eureka, "grocery store", lemon tree. A few years ago, the Meyer lemon craze took off and people were paying ridiculous amounts of money for a single lemon back East. I got so used to the super juicy, sweet Meyer, that when we moved to this house 11 years ago I had to plant one, even though we had a huge Eureka.

Eureka lemons

The difference between the two is easy to discern. A Meyer has thinner skin that is a deep yellow that almost looks like an anemic orange. It's juice is sweeter and yields more juice. A Eureka is more common, easier to zest, with thicker skin. It's more tart and yields less juice. I think it's also much prettier!

Eureka lemons on the left, Meyer on the right

I'm not sure why lemons are associated with summertime, because most citrus is in season during the winter. I just leave the lemons on the trees and just pick as needed. Since the Meyer tree is younger, it's not as prolific as the more mature Eureka, so when it's Meyer season, I try to take advantage of them!

Eureka Lemon Bars

I decided to make two batches of Lemon Bars using Amy's recipe, one with the sweeter Meyer juice and one using Eureka juice...just because I could!

Amy's Lemon Bars

1 cup flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter

Cream butter and sugar together. Pat into a 8"X 8" pan. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until barely golden.

Blend:

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

juice of one medium lemon

Pour onto baked crust and return to oven for an additional 20 to 25 minutes at 350*, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. To double batch, bake in a 13"X 9" pan