Sunday, July 25, 2010

SMS: Toasted Almond Lemon Bars


This week's recipe for the Sweet Melissa Bakers was Toasted Almond Lemon Bars which was picked by Rebecca of Indecisive Baker.

Go check out her blog. Yes, now. The recipe is that good. It's my new go to shortbread/lemon bar recipe.

That's not to say that I didn't make some minor tweaks that ended up getting their revenge later. I decided to go with a round pie pan because I thought it would make the bars look striking for when I bought them into work. Problem was that I did not factor in the difference in size so I had more dough than I should have which made the rest of the assembly more complicated...the baking times were off and the filling just never set properly after that.

Fortunately, in my new attempt to embrace moderation with eating, I threw some dough into a few mini tart pans to save for me while I bought the pie to work. While the pie just never came together  the tarts obediently baked and firmed up perfectly. I did skip the prebaking on these and just patted the dough into place, poured the filling on top and baked it along with the poor doomed should have worked out and not sure why it didn't pie pan. The mini tarts turned out wonderfully..crust was lightly golden and the filling was perfect.

I'm thinking that this may be have a blessing in disguise as I could see myself picking at the pie all weekend and finishing off way too much of it had that turned out as it was supposed to have. I would definitely make this again..but I would want to chill the dough before putting it into the pan as it came out a bit sticky for me. But I would use the smaller tart pans again instead of a traditional bar...they worked out perfectly as a single serving and came out of the tart pans fairly easily even though I didn't spray the pans before hand.

15 comments:

  1. I love these made as mini tarts. I am having to stay away from these. I could eat them all.

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  2. OMG, these look great! Mini tarts are a super idea! I have a mini muffin pan and I make all kinds of mini things in it because bite-sized A) rocks and B) lessens guilt!

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  3. Wow, these made as mini tarts are absolutely wonderful. I love it!

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  4. Yep, mini tarts are a great idea with this one! I'm having serious trouble with willpower on these - every time I open the fridge the bars are staring at me practically forcing me to grab another :) Glad you enjoyed the recipe too!

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  5. Mini tarts are a great way to make these. Much more elegant.

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  6. I love these as mini tarts! I may have to try this next time.

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  7. Your tarts look adorable. Glad to hear they behaved!

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  8. Smaller tart pans sound perfect. Single servings are never a bad thing. When I made these previously, my crust got a little too brown by the time the filling was set, so I'd gladly skip the prebake if I could.

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  9. These look great as little tarts! Adorable!

    Katie xox

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  10. Love the tart size- the fluted edges are pretty.

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  11. Your mini tarts are so cute! Glad you enjoyed this recipe.

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  12. hmmm - these look perfect as mini tarts.

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  13. The tarts were an excellent idea, so cute! I made sure to get these out of the house ASAP, they were too good.

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  14. What a great idea using mini-tart pans. Sorry the pie shaped one did not turn out. I had trouble with the dough being sticky myself. Glad to hear you are one of the bakers who loved the lemon flavor; we did too.

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  15. Your crust on the minis looks fantastic!! Nice and crumbly buttery good! I hope you had more willpower than I did when it came to these. I think I inhaled 2 after I savored my first one. :)

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