Lemon Bar Filling - modification thoughts?

[orangewasabi]

I am using this recipe for a lemon bar filling, which is Ina Garten's with some of my changes:

6 large eggs, room temp
2-3 tbsp lemon extract*
1 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 cup flour
2 1/3 cups sugar
1 tbsp sour salt

The recipe had zest in it at one time, and I found the Lemon extract to provide more lemonyness.

I'd like to make it even more pucker sour and have considered the following options:

1/ adding an extra 1/2 cup of lemon juice
2/ reducing the eggs
3/ reducing the flour

My concern with increasing the sour salt is that sour salt doesn't taste lemony & I want to keep that lemon freshness too.

I am not entirely sure what the flour and eggs do so I'm loathe to change those until I learn what they do.

Any thoughts?

[jen kalb]

the flour and eggs are going to thicken the filling - an obvious change would be to reduce the sugar somewhat, which will increase the tartness without adding more liquid. Add that zest , too, which will intensify the lemoniness. .

It IS a lot of flour which I guess creates a firmer cookie but also dilutes down the effect of the sweet and sour components- maybe you could cut back somewhat on the flour. The cookies would be less firm but the lemon filling would have a purer lemon flavor - ou might look at some recipes for lemon curd or french lemon tart recipes, which tend to be more sour and less sweet than american lemon desserts and see how much and what kind of thickening they contain, if any.

Good luck!

[orangewasabi]

TY -- i wondered if the flour was having a dampening effect on the flavor, i think that's going to be the first thing to be reduced.

[chowser]

As jen kalb said, the flour will make it more like a cookie and I prefer my lemon bars more like lemon curd filling. The flour will dilute the lemony flavor, though. Egg yolks will help thicken it--the recipe I posted above uses 7 egg yolks. It's essentially lemon curd. Smitten kitten did play around with Ina's recipe so it might be helpful for you, on reducing sugar and changing proportions.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/01/lem...

[orangewasabi]

yeah, i just went thru the recipe you posted and the proportions are different and much more to my liking -- i think i just under played the zest originally, and need to use a lot more. i also love how little sugar and flour there was. I'm gonna get baking!

[Ruth Lafler]

That's a lot of lemon extract. I'm having trouble imagining that it doesn't taste strongly artificial.

The flour and the eggs are what give it body -- I wouldn't change them at all. You could probably reduce the sugar by a third cup (or maybe even two-thirds) to give it more pucker.

I'm not sure you're accurately assessing what you perceive as "pucker" and "lemony" flavor. The two are independent of each other: it can be lemony without being puckery, and vice versa. If you want to increase the pucker factor, the sour salt is what's doing it, although it you add more you risk it become too salty -- you might try getting some pure citric acid.

Honestly, though, even as it is, this recipe looks like it tastes of chemicals, not lemons!

[orangewasabi]

TY! i totally hear what you're saying about the artificialness and keep having it taste tested around to see if it does, maybe everyone's just being polite?

the sour salt is pure citric acid though - there's not saltiness to it at all

[Ruth Lafler]

Ah yes -- I was thinking of the citric acid salt combo they use for tequila shots! As Jen said, I would add lemon zest in addition to the lemon extract. In addition, perhaps what you perceive as something being lacking is actually a lack of complexity. I'd add small amounts of other tart citrus -- meyer lemon, sour orange, pomelo, kumquat, etc. Not enough for them to be identifiable, just enough to add some complexity.

I agree with Jen, too, that you might be happier starting with a whole new recipe, maybe one based on cornstarch that has much less flour.

[orangewasabi]

ah, genius! i would never have thought that lack of complexity was the issue but as soon as i read your words the penny dropped - ty so much!

rather than muck about with the recipe i have, i'm going to dive into the one Chowser posted and start afresh. fun time!

[Ruth Lafler]

Sounds good. One of the less recognized but basic tenets of problem solving is that if the obvious solution should work but isn't, perhaps you've mis-identified the problem!

BTW, the main difference between lemon curd and lemon bar filling is that lemon curd doesn't set hard enough to hold its shape when cut -- you do need some kind of flour to do that. Otherwise, make shortbread and then make lemon curd to slather on it! :-)

[chowser]

In this case, eggs are just the custard. You couid make it richer by using only egg yolks for some, which I prefer. Maybe go with three eggs, three egg yolks (I like even more yolk) but you won't have as much filling. The other option would be to increase the other ingredients. The flour isn't important and many recipes have much less than 1 cup (I've never seen one with that much flour). My favorite recipe doesn't use any four for thickener and uses more egg yolk to help w/ thickening. If you want to make it more lemony, you could reduce lemon juice to 1 cup (adding some lemon peel as you simmer). To make it pucker sour, I'd reduce the sugar. Overall, it would more more along these lines, which are my favorite lemon bars.

http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipe...

[orangewasabi]

TY so much. I wasn't sure the extent to which the sugar vs the flour & eggs were providing the body. The reducing idea is brilliant, i am def going to try that. And pursue your provided link. I have to sort out the perfect egg/flour ratio - this will help a lot