How to make lemon bars from the Reddit-well-known recipe
When Redditor Megan Hood (u/justhood) shared her Grandma Caroline’s lemon bar recipe in the r/Aged_Recipes subreddit last year, she had no notion the it would acquire a cult next of countless numbers.
Hood, who lives in Illinois, suggests it really is a mystery exactly where Grandma Caroline, who has since handed absent, received the wildly well-known recipe.
“I am betting that like a great deal of baking housewives of her time, it was on the aspect of a package or given by a friend,” Hood advised Nowadays Food items. “The lemon squares were being her no-fuss treat … she utilized a pretty distinct deep aluminum pan that my sister has because inherited, and constantly introduced the powdered sugar in an previous-fashioned sifter to dust on just in advance of serving.”
Hood says she shared the recipe in r/Previous_Recipes after adhering to the subreddit for a whilst, but experienced no idea it would turn into a viral hit inside of the team. Because posting a picture of the typed recipe, a individual subreddit, r/JustHoodsLemonBars, was then established, the place additional than 12,000 users share images of their lemon bar creations.
The bars have been tweaked by some lovers, with strawberries pressed into the area or orange zest extra to the lemon filling. But Hood states Grandma Caroline was a purist when it came to her lemon bars.
“Caroline would not have permitted of alterations people have created,” stated Hood. “She disapproved anytime her grandkids messed with her recipes.
“But I think she would have been secretly delighted by how significantly persons enjoy them.”
There was, nevertheless, 1 tweak even Grandma Caroline discovered valuable: Substituting bottled lemon juice for clean.
“This is not in the recipe, but she was all about bottled, pre-squeezed lemon juice,” stated Hood. “She raised 5 young ones, partly on her very own, so she favored fast and quick recipes.”
Hood mentioned when fellow Redditors say the lemon bars are much too sweet, she recommends making the Grandma Caroline-approved swap to shop-bought juice.
“Bottled lemon juice is a great deal more tart, especially after baked,” she discussed. “My sister and I choose to double the juice, and I like some zest in there, much too.”
Eager to attempt Grandma Caroline’s recipe in my kitchen area, I gathered the surprisingly uncomplicated elements: Flour, butter, sugar, salt, lemon juice, eggs and powdered sugar are all which is demanded to attain the lemony goodness.
The very first techniques of the recipe involve creaming alongside one another flour, butter and powdered sugar to make a crust. Just after baking the crust for 20 minutes, the dazzling, sugary combination of lemon juice, flour, salt and sugar gets spread on prime. The pan then returns to the oven for 25 minutes.
As soon as the lemon bars cooled, I employed a sifter to address them with powdered sugar, just like Grandma Caroline did.
These citrusy sweet lemon bars were, palms down, my favourite recipe I have produced from the r/Old_Recipes subreddit so far. They ended up light, lemony perfection and they will surely be on my go-to recipe listing.
Hood reported viewing individuals really like her grandmother’s recipe would make her family grateful for the compact way her memory life on.
“I feel like every time a person would make these bars, it reminds us of her: sour at initially, but sweet in the conclude.”