With all the cold weather heading out the door and the sunshine pouring through my windows here in Houston, I was inspired to squeeze some citrus! And what goes better with lemons and limes than raspberry, am I right?

I’ve been making lemon curd bars out of The Joy of Cooking for years with my mom, but these were for a special occasion. It was my boyfriend’s birthday a couple of weeks back and he loves fruity desserts, especially key lime pie, but I decided instead of going that route I could come up with a twist of my own. And so was born: Raspberry Topped Lemon-Lime Squares.

These fresh squares of summer are intensely tart, yet satisfyingly sweet and pack a punch of flavor. The bright color is a breath of fresh air after such a chilly, dark winter too. Bring a little sunshine into your life, and whip up a batch of these lovelies!

 

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 sticks of softened butter (if frozen, microwave 20 seconds)

Filling:
6 large eggs
3 cups sugar
Juice from 4 small lemons and 3 limes (a little over 1 cup of juice)
Zest from 1 lemon
1/2 cup flour

Topping:
1 small carton of raspberries

1. To make the crust, mix the flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a bowl. Cut the 1 1/2 sticks of softened butter into small slices and add to the bowl. Use a knife to slice the butter into smaller and smaller pieces while mixing it with the dry ingredients. You can also use a pastry blender for this step if you have one handy. Once the butter is almost all broken up you can use your hands to finish the job and fully mix the ingredients.

2. Press the dough into a 13″x9″ pan with your fingers making sure to fully cover the bottom of the pan and about 1/4 to 1/2″ up the sides. The crust ends up as a very thin layer. Put the crust in the oven to bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are brown. Take the crust out to cool on a wire rack.

3. While the crust is baking/cooling you can make the filling. Whisk together the eggs and the sugar in a large bowl and set aside.

4. Get that fresh fruit and a zester out! Zest, for the record, is just small bits of rind from the lemon. The zest gives the bars their tart flavor and cannot be skipped! Take 1 lemon and fully zest off all of the outer rind. If you don’t already have a zester, I fully recommend the Microplane. It’s so easy to use and takes a fraction of the time that the itty bitty one does.

5. It’s juicing time! Cut all of the lemons and limes in half and grab your juicer (does this feel like an episode of Julia shows off her kitchen utensils to you, or is it just me?). Juice all of the fruit, making sure to remove all of the seeds at the end. You can use a mesh sieve for this or just fish them out with a spoon. Add the juice and zest to the egg and sugar mixture and stir.

6. Slowly add 1/2 cup of flour in small batches making sure it all gets added to the liquids. This thickens up the filling so that it will harden after baking. Pour the filling into the pan directly over the crust and bake in the oven at 300 degrees F for about 40 minutes, or until the middle of the bars do not giggle when the pan is shaken a bit. Let the bars cool on top of a wire rack.

7. At this point you can definitely call it quits and have some delicious lemon-lime bars, but the raspberry really adds something special. Grab your berries and throw them into a food processor or blender. Mix up the raspberries into a puree, trying to break up the seeds as much as possible. A mesh sieve can also be used to remove the seeds, but I’m a little lazy for that. Spread the raspberries on top of the lemon-lime bars and let cool for at least an hour or two. Make sure you cool the bars on a wire rack to get air beneath them and do not place in the fridge. The cooling process hardens up the filling and keeps the crust crunchy and flakey.

8. Cut into squares, dust with powdered sugar, and enjoy! These bars pair very well with a bit of bubbly, so celebrate, you just made a three part dessert, bud!