Lemon Bars with Cream Cheese

Hi everyone.

I've been wanting to make lemon bars for so long, but I never found a recipe that ticked off all my criteria. For a recipe to be Stevie Friendly, it needs to be

- easy and no fuss
- not drenched in bad fat or loaded with sugar
- not take to long because you know I have no patience

and

- it must not make a mess of everything because I hate, hate, HATE doing dishes.

So, I simply decided to dive in, head first, and create my own lemon bars.
And I'm so happy I did.

Ingredients:

For the base:
150 gr flour
100 gr soft coconut butter (normal butter is fine too)
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cold water
1 tsp lemon juice

For the filling:
3 tbsp low fat cream cheese
2 eggs
2 tbsp liquid sweetener
Juice of 1 lemon
100 gr flour

Way to do it:

1. We start with the base. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and stir with a spoon to combine. Add the coconut butter and use your hands to 'melt' it into the mixture. It will become very crumbly and dry. Add the lemon juice and water and use that liquid to form a dough. Roll the dough into a ball, put it in cling foil and let rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
2. Now we make the filling. Add the cream cheese, eggs, liquid sweetener and lemon juice into a bowl and whisk until combined. Add the flour and make sure there are no lumps left. It will be very liquid but don't worry, that way our crust will soak it all in. Leave it into the fridge until you are ready to use it.
3. After the crust has rested for 30 minutes, take it out and line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll out the dough and bake in a pre-heated oven on 180degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.
4. Take the baking tray out and pour the filling over the crust. Bake again for another 10 minutes.
5. Take out of the oven and let them cool before you cut them. Transfer to a plate and they are best if you keep them in the fridge.

And these people, are no fuss, no muss, deliciously low sugar Lemon Bars.

I must admit, you can't call these low in fat...compared to stuff you would buy in the store yes, but not to other stuff you can find on my website. However, I did use coconut butter and some sources say it's the 'healthiest' butter there is. But it's still butter off course, this isn't a perfect world :-(

It was my first time making these, so it's still a work in progress. Next time, I'm going to add some cacao powder to the base and I'll prob add some more lemon juice because in my opinion, they could be a little more sour.

Keep checking back for new recipes and let me know what you think.

Enjoy
xx