These lemon bars were a request from my fabulous aunt when she was down visiting Austin recently. She had mentioned that she loves to bake and was asking for some suggestions on lighter treats that were easy to pull together when having dinner with friends or family.
Naturally I suggested Skinny Cherry Pie Bars and soon mentioned that I wanted to work on a lemon bar recipe next. She sweetly encouraged me to work on them sooner than later.
I searched through many lemon bar recipes and found one that was by far the highest rated and started out with some of the simplest of ingredients.
I'll be honest, when I began trying to lighten this recipe up, I had more than one flub-up. What you see in the photos here would be the and third and final attempt. I was beginning to lose hope. Thankfully, I learned from my mistakes and finally managed to get the recipe perfected!
By the way, you can absolutely sub out all of the regular sugar in this recipe for Stevia in the Raw to make these even more diet friendly and lower in sugar!
I have found that my personal preference, when using Stevia in the Raw, is to also use a bit of regular sugar to further fool my tastebuds into believing the fallacy.
Skinny Lemon Bars
TheSkinnyFork.com
The Skinny:
Servings: 9 • Size: 1 Bar • Calories: 145 • Fat: 5 g • Carb: 21.2 g • Fiber: 1.9 g • Protein: 5 g • Sugar: 8.3 g • Sodium: 104.6 mg
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 C. Whole Wheat White Flour
1/3 C. Stevia in the Raw
1/8 Tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Plain Fat Free Greek Yogurt
1 Tbsp. Lemon Zest
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
4 Tbsp. Light Butter, Room Temperature
Filling:
4 Eggs
1 C. Stevia in the Raw
1/3 C. Sugar
1 C. Lemon Juice, Fresh Suggested
Powdered Sugar, Optional Garnish
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish with parchment paper or foil.
Combine flour, stevia, salt, yogurt, lemon zest, vanilla and butter together in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with the whisk attachment or with an electric beater until sandy like crumbs begin to form.
Press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until browned along the edges.
While the crust is baking, whisk together the filling ingredients until well combined and starting to froth slightly.
Once done, remove the crust from the oven and pour the filling over the top. Don't make the mistake I did... allow any froth to settle before baking for another 20 minutes or until the filling is set and doesn't jiggle when the dish is gently shaken.
Allow to cool completely and cut into 9 equal squares. Top with a little powdered sugar for garnish of desired!
Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container.
