GINGER PECAN LEMON BARS

I tried these because the lemon bars I’ve made in the past just had a scary amount of sugar in them. These still have a goodly amount, but they are more interesting and I got A LOT of good feedback on them when we brought them to our piano recital.

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup finely chopped pecans
1/8 - ¼ cup finely chopped candied ginger
1 ½ sticks chilled butter

1 ½ cups sugar
3 tablespoons unbleached flour
pinch salt
4 eggs
zest of 4 lemons
¾ cup lemon juice
¼ cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13 x 9 baking dish.

Crust: Sift together flours, confectioner’s sugar and salt. Add pecans and ginger. Cut butter in until it resembles a coarse meal (or just put dry ingredients in a food processor and then pulse in butter). Scrape into prepared baking dish, spread out and press down well. Bake 20 minutes, until lightly golden.

Topping: Combine sugar, flour and salt in a bowl. Mix in eggs, then stir in zest, lemon juice, milk.

Pour topping mixture over the hot crust. Bake 20 minutes, until topping is just set.

Cool completely and cut to serve. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.