Thickeners: Recipes were only thickened with flour, cornstarch, or nothing. One with additional egg yolks is likely to give you a softer texture. When in doubt, if you’re looking for a drier filling, a recipe with whole eggs only is likely a better choice. Ina achieved a syrupy texture thanks to a LOT of sugar, but all other recipes that used only whole eggs (Mel’s, Smitten Kitchen, Sally’s) were all on the drier side. Added egg yolks are a pain, but in general they seemed to achieve a silkier, slightly looser curd texture. egg yolks: Bravetart’s recipe taught me the importance of egg yolks (and an insane amount of them) to achieve a brilliant yellow curd. ratios of lemon juice/sugar/etc) mattered more here in terms of flavor rather than technique. Interestingly, while a cooked curd (Cook’s Illustrated) took first place, the runners up (Ina and Sally) plus Smitten Kitchen, Tartine and Mel’s Kitchen Cafe all used uncooked curds. uncooked curd: Some theorize that uncooked curds are more flavorful than cooked curds. Which is where we found granulated sugar can be preferable over powdered.Ĭooked vs. With lemon bars, most people prefer a crisper bite from the crust. My hunch: the cornstarch in powdered sugar leads to a softer, doughier crust. However, the crusts that used powdered sugar (i.e NYT, Bravetart, Flour, Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and Tartine) almost all received lower crust ratings (Tartine may be the exception since it added pine nuts, which added subtle crunch). See these thick, cakey pancakes and these ethereally delicious sugar cookies. Powdered sugar in the crust: Powdered sugar historically has done magical things in baked goods. Now let’s dive into some of the factors and patterns that emerged from the rankings in finding the best lemon bar recipe! Lemon Bar Factors However, it’s no surprise that NYT took last place given the strong reactions to the olive oil and sea salt-spiked lemon filling. It’s just a matter of your preference for tartness vs. I kind of disagree with the overall results because all the recipes were pretty solid. The super tart bars like Bravetart and Flour came rated lower while while the sweeter, more traditional bars take top honors. In general, the results really reflect that my tasters tend to like sweeter lemon bars (which I suspect mirrors the more common preferences). food processing the dough, adding powered sugar, pine nuts, etc). Other recipe sources were chosen based on reputation/performance in past bake offs as well as unique techniques and/or ingredients (like creaming vs. Ina Garten was the “benchmark” recipe in this bake off, with Sally’s Baking Addiction as a similar but slightly different (lower sugar) candidate. However, I also added in some recipes that use powdered sugar instead of granulated, cornstarch, and even egg yolks. For this bake off, I stuck with shortbread crusts (though Skyler insists graham cracker crusts are superior–maybe next time!), which are generally comprised of butter, sugar, flour and salt. Nowadays, with literally thousands of lemon bar recipes on the internet, I found many different permutations of ingredients. Both recipes called for just a few tablespoons of lemon juice (as opposed to the cups of lemon juice in modern versions), and the Chicago version used flour as a thickener while Betty Crocker omitted it. I found that the first lemon bar recipe wasn’t published until 1962 (in the Chicago Tribune), which was followed by another very similar recipe by the Betty Crocker R&D team in 1963. The Origin of Lemon Bars and How I Chose the Recipes Pans were lined with parchment paper, foil or simply greased per the recipe. All lemon bars were baked either in a glass or metal 8×8 or 9×9 pan, per each recipe.All tasters ranked each lemon bar curd and crust on a scale from 0-10 for flavor, texture, and overall as a whole.All recipes were served either room temperature or slightly chilled (removed from the fridge ~1 hour before tasting).All 9 recipes were baked fresh the day of, chilled or left to cool at room temperature per each recipe.METHODOLOGY // RESULTS // FACTORS // ANALYSIS // RECOMMENDATIONS Methodology This will definitely help you find the perfect lemon bar for your taste profile! Are you ready to find your new favorite lemon bar recipe? Let’s GO!Īlthough I’d never tried to top my beloved Krusteaz lemon bars (a childhood staple), when many of you requested a lemon bar bake off, I decided to try find the best lemon bar recipe from scratch! I tested 9 of the most unique and popular lemon bar recipes with 37 taste testers. They’re enjoyed year round as the citrus flavor is refreshing in the summer and comforting in the winter. But have you found the very best lemon bar recipe?! Lemon bars are renowned for their bright, tangy citrus flavor and buttery shortbread crusts. If you’re a lemon dessert lover, chances are you’ve already tried your fair share of lemon bars.
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