Gluten Free Lemon Bars

VEGETARIAN/PALEO/GLUTEN FREE/DAIRY FREE/COCONUT OIL

The hardest thing to give up/find a replacement for is pie crust. I have already tried variations of almond crusts, but this one was by far the most effective and tasty. It worked very well for the lemon bars, and I will be trying it out with other fruit fillings.

To avoid using the dreaded ingredient of regular sugar I have invested in a wonderful substitute, coconut sugar. I order it off of Amazon. This is the cheapest I’ve found so far. Since I don’t use a lot of sugar in my cooking I don’t go through it too fast and can justify the cost. It’s not as sweet as regular sugar, but can be used 1:1, and has far less calories. If I want the recipe to be sweeter I sometimes add a little extra than called for.

I made this twice so far. The first time I used a pie plate, and didn’t pre bake the crust. I also added a little more lemon juice than recommended. It was a little more tart than everyone in the house liked, but I enjoyed it any way. The second time I made it I used the recommended square dish and kept all of the crust on the bottom. I followed the rest of the original recipe, pre-baking and all, with one addition of ½ tsp of vanilla essence, which made it perfect.

Ingredients

“Crust”

- 1 ½ cups almond flour (you can make this yourself using a food processor or blender to chop almonds into a flour like texture)

- ½ coconut sugar

- ½ cup coconut oil (I order coconut oil in bulk from www.bulkapothecary.com. It’s cheaper than any store outside of the Caribbean. Stores in North America charge a ridiculous amount for such a simple/healthy product.)

Filling

- 3 eggs

- ¼ cup coconut sugar

- 4 tbs lemon juice (1 large or 2 small lemons)

- 1 ½ tsp lemon zest (1 lemon)

- ½ tsp baking powder

- ½ tsp vanilla essence

Recipe

“Crust”

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix with hands. (The original recipe recommends a food processor or blender, but something about using my hands for this seemed more effective.)
3. Press the dough into a greased 8×8 baking dish. (I also tried this with a pie dish, but the square is definitely better.) Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 30 minutes to cool and set. 

Filling

1. Heat the oven back to 350 and make sure it's ready before you start mixing the ingredients. The baking powder will be affected if you wait to bake these. You can also wait to add the baking powder until the oven is at 350.
2. Place all ingredients EXCEPT the baking powder in a food processor and combine. A mixer will work, but lemon zest will not be ground down and unnoticeable in bars. Add in the baking powder and pulse one last time.
3. Pour the filling over the crust and bake for about 25 minutes until crust is set.
4. Allow to cool before serving. For best results, and easier cutting place in fridge overnight.

Original Recipe - http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/index.cfm/2013/4/8/grain-free-lemon-bars