Growing up, these were a common dessert, whether it be a potluck or a baby shower, my Mom made these often and I always enjoyed them. Somehow, I never made them myself, but when my oldest was 10, he became disgruntled with only having them when Minnie (my Mom) came to visit, asked her for the recipe and made them himself.
With our recent gluten free forays, I can tell you that shortbread lends itself well to being gluten free. While I havent made these gluten free, I can give fairly confident gluten free swap suggestions. For the 2 cups of flour in the base, I would swap for 1 ½ cups rice flour and ½ cup tapioca starch and the ¼ cup of flour in the filling for 2-3 tablespoon tapioca starch.
This makes a big pan, but I dont feel you'll have trouble eating them. You could freeze them if you really needed, or you were wanting to get baking for a holiday done ahead of time.
Shortbread Bottom Lemon Squares
Ingredients
Shortbread Bottom
- 2 cups flour all purpose, whole wheat or pastry flour
- ½ cup icing sugar
- 1 cup cold butter, grated
Filling
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
To Top
- Icing sugar
Instructions
Shortbread Bottom
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Mix flour and icing sugar together.
- Stir in grated butter and mix well. Press into a 9x13 ungreased pan.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
Filling
- While the bottom bakes, stir together all of the filing ingredients together in a bowl.
- When the bottom is done, pull it out of the oven and pour the filling overtop right away.
- Return to oven for 25 min.
- The filling will still be a little jiggly but it shouldnt be runny.
To Top
- Once its cooled for 15-20 minutes, sprinkle or dust with icing sugar to taste.
Nutrition
Theresa
Thank you for adding the gluten free swap-out’s in your story, I’ll definitely have to try these! ??
katehosie
Let me know how it goes?
KC
These look great, but 1 question: is the lemon filling more on the sweet side or the sour side? Neighbor used to make these, but the filling was on the sour side (my preference), but she passed and I don’t have the recipe ?????
anna
id call them 'tangy'
Geri Kern
These are so gooey and tart... We love them so much.. feeds my addiction to lemon and lovely desserts ??
Heather
Made this recipe for a baby shower!! Was a huge hit. They have a become a favourite. My sister made then with 1:1 G/F flour, they turned out great also.
Kiara
This recipe has now become a staple in our house. I always have the ingredients and it’s so fast to whip up. So yummy and a perfect balance of sour and sweet!
kathleen
These are ao easy to make my daughter loves to making them!....we all love it when she makes them too!
Stephanie Haas
This is a nice refreshing dessert. The crust is so buttery and delicious. Definitely going to have to make this again.
Agnia
I made this on Sunday and wow. And it is even better the next day. Five stars!
Leesif
Next time I make these, I think it’ll try out with fresh lemon juice and add zest to give it more zing, but the base is great and the consistency of the lemon layer is perfect. I just want more zing ?
Alicia Stelling
I love how simple these are to make. My family ate them all before I got one so I made another pan the next day.
KATES BIG SISTER
this reminds me to make them soon... husbands favorite!
Ali
Definitely a go to for us. Everyone in the family loves them.
Ruth
Printed this recipe to try next week, can’t wait!
NMThonet
These are like a bit of summer in the middle of December
Annie Haché
Delicious, everyone loved it!