Tangy Hummingbird Bakery Lemon Bars

Living and working in London, I'm lucky enough to be able to walk to one of the Hummingbird Bakery's in my lunch hour. Despite this I've only been in once and even then I didn't buy something for myself; instead I opted for a slice of cake to gift to a friend. This is partly because I can't bring myself to spent upwards of £3 on something I can cook myself and partly because I've got the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook at home.

I can't say I've been bowled over by their book some of the recipes (chocolate cheesecake) are amazing but others have left me feeling really disappointed, but not as disappointed as I would have been if I'd paid £30 for the cake! Given this, it was a bit of a gamble when I decide to make lemon bars and opted for the Hummingbird Bakery Recipe - there are a few things I'd tweak next time; less biscuit, more topping but overall they turned out tangy and gooey.

Ingredients:

Base

• 290g plain flour
• 70g icing sugar (plus extra for dusting)
• pinch of salt
• zest from 2 lemons
• 230g unsalted butter

Topping

• 210g caster sugar
• 100ml lemon juice
• zest from 3 lemons
• 3 eggs

1. First of all line and grease your tin and preheat your oven to 170c.
2. Put all the ingredients for the base in a large bowl, using the paddle attachment (or your hands) mix until it begins to all stick together.
   
3. Push the base ingredients into the tin and smooth over to form an even layer. Pop into the oven for about 20-25 minutes until it is pale golden.
   
4. Remove it from the oven and leave to cool for around 15 minutes (leave your oven on). Meanwhile put all the ingredients for the topping in a large bowl and whisk until all incorporated fully.
   
5. Pour the the topping on top of the biscuit base and put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes until it's slightly brown around the edges. 
   
6. Remove and leave to cool before refrigerating them overnight - sadly patience is required!
7. Dust with icing sugar and cut into slices to serve.