Level Up Your Lemon Bars With One Canned Ingredient

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Tart, tangy, and with just the right amount of sweet shortbread crust to balance everything out, lemon bars are a joy to serve during the summertime and all year long. The best lemon bars recipe is one made with care and quality ingredients. If you really want to level up these lemon treats, though, a simple canned addition will bring a taste of fall into this summertime staple. Popping open your favorite brand of canned cranberry sauce will provide the ideal layer of complementary tart fruit flavors and a delightful contrasting color to your next batch of lemon bars.

Although you can also prepare your own scratch-made cranberry sauce to layer with these bars, the canned version is optimal both in the interest of time and texture. Either a thicker whole berry sauce or a cylindrical jellied option will work.

Of the many genius ways to upgrade lemon bars, this quick and simple method is highly effective and delicious. Cranberries and lemons go well together, and the gel-like texture of both the lemon bar filling and canned cranberry sauce bakes perfectly for a satisfying bite. You can even let these coordinating flavors inform other ingredient additions or swaps to suit any season.

A great batch of lemon bars starts with a rich shortbread crust. Thankfully, shortbread is easy to bake, requiring minimal ingredients and a reasonable amount of effort. As far as the lemon filling, it's fairly simple to create a thick and gooey custard-like topping from scratch. Barring that, you can even grab a suitable canned substitute like Comstock Lemon Crème Filling and a boxed mix of yellow cake to create a lemon bar-inspired crumble if you're short on time. This would also be delicious with a layer of canned cranberry sauce in the center.

For traditional lemon bars with a flourish of crimson red cranberry sauce, start with a simple recipe. You'll just need flour, sugar, salt, and butter to prepare the shortbread crust, which you'll want to par-bake and prick small holes in before setting it aside to prepare your filling. The hallmark of luscious lemon bars is a tart yet sweet filling made with lemon juice and zest, eggs, flour, and sugar. Meyer lemons will work particularly well for this. 

Once your crust and filling are properly prepared, carefully apply a layer of canned cranberry sauce as the base. It's important to keep this layer as even as possible before pouring your lemon filling on top to ensure even baking and permeation of flavors. Once baked, sprinkle a generous helping of powdered sugar over the top and enjoy. As always, remember that sweet treats are best when shared.