French Lavender Lemon Bars
The day before I left to come home from Paris, I realized I hadn’t gotten my husband any souvenirs. It’s not like forgot about him, it’s that he not really into ‘stuff’ and I know he wouldn’t be very excited about a Paris t-shirt. On my leisurely walk home from Notre Dame, I popped in this little kitchen-y store and noticed the ‘made in France’ section. I decided on a pouch of Herbs de Provence and a bag of dried lavender.
When I gave him his gifts, he was a little surprised by the lavender. His first comment was something about it being soap. I quickly reminded him of the various recipes that call for lavender. The next day, I offered three different options I would bake for him to show him just how well lavender works in dessert recipes. He chose the lavender lemon bars recipe, which I adapted from here.
The recipe made a giant 8×12 pan of bars, so I brought nearly 3/4 of the pan to work this week. I usually test the worthiness of my recipes by how my co-workers react. Let me tell you, the pan was empty by 10:30 am! These lavender lemon bars were a major hit — probably the most popular recipe I’ve made.
If you like lemon flavor, you’re going to love these bars. They are super lemony and the lavender just adds the most subtle addition of flavor — to my husband’s surprise, it was not at all overpowering, reminiscent of soap or perfume.
Lavender Lemon Bars
Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons dried lavender buds
1/2 cup of butter
1/4 cup coconut oil, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried lavender buds
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×12 inch pan.
Make lavender sugar by blending the sugar and 2 teaspoons lavender buds in a blender or food processor until the lavender is powder.
Blend together 1/4 cup lavender sugar, butter, coconut oil, 2 cups flour and salt until a dough is formed. Press into the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until it is set and just starting to turn the slightest bit brown.
While baking the crust, mix together the remaining lavender sugar, 1/4 cup flour, eggs, lemon, and 1/2 teaspoon lavender until well combined. Once the crust is out of the oven, pour the mixture over the crust and put back in the oven to bake until the center is set, another 20-25 minutes.
Allow to cool completely and dust with powdered sugar before serving. Enjoy!
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