Recipe: Lemon Bars
Tastes like pure sunshine
Lemon bars are like pure sunshine. They radiate joy, happiness and warmth. Cannabis-infused Lemon Bars are pure CALIFORNIA sunshine. Grab a pan, a handful of lemons, and let’s do this.
Cannabis strains with limonene and pinene terpene profiles pair well with these lemon bars. I made a Rosemary Meyer Lemon Bar version of this recipe for Lēvo. If you’ve been eyeballing one, use my code fruitnflower for 10% off.
DOSING:
Makes 18 bars at ~5mg THC each.
You’ll need to make a batch of cannabutter* with 90mg THC in the entire batch. Approximately 0.7 grams of 20% THC cannabis flower. If your flower is different % THC, double-check your cannamath.
INGREDIENTS:
For Shortbread:
½ cup (113g) cannabutter*, at room temperature
¼ cup (30g) powdered sugar
1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
⅛ teaspoon salt
For Lemon Custard:
2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 cup (200g) cane sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
⅓ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons (17g) all-purpose flour
For Decorating:
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Cannabis leaves
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a square 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together cannabutter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add flour and salt until combined. The mixture will come together from a grainy sandy texture to a cohesive cookie dough as it beats together.
2. Press the dough evenly onto the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Put into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden. Start making the lemon custard mixture while the shortbread is baking.
3. Make lemon custard: In the bowl of the stand mixer, beat together eggs, egg yolks, and sugar on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is light and frothy. Mix in lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla low speed, increasing speed slowly until well-combined. Mix in flour and baking powder until incorporated.
4. Remove shortbread from the oven and place on a heat proof surface. Pour the lemon custard mixture over the hot shortbread, and carefully return to the oven to bake for an additional 20 minutes until set, the top will look crackled. Take out of the oven, cool completely, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight to make the lemon bars easier to slice.
5. Decorate: Place cannabis leaves on top of cooled lemon bars. Use a sifter to dust the tops with powdered sugar. Remove the cannabis leaves before serving.
Because custard is made with eggs, the quality of eggs you use will make a big flavor and color difference in your lemon bars. Eggs from chickens that are pasture-raised or free-range will have a creamier, more flavorful yolk. Best place to find egg-cellent eggs? Your local farmer’s market!
XOXO, Christina W.