Lemon Shortbread Squares
These Lemon Shortbread Squares with Homemade Lemon Curd are simple and so delicious! They taste like little bites of lemon tart, but so much easier to make!
- Author: Jo-Anna Rooney
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 80 minutes
- Yield: 12 squares 1x
Lemon Curd:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- juice from 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
- zest from 1 lemon
Shortbread:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- dash of salt
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp butter (at room temperature)
Lemon Curd:
- Make the lemon curd first.
- In a saucepan whisk together the sugar and the egg until smooth.
- Stir in the melted butter, fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest, and cook on low-medium heat, whisking often.
- Whisk and cook until the lemon curd glaze thickens, about 15 – 20 minutes.
Shortbread Crust:
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, making sure to leave some overhang so you can pull the square easily out once it’s done baking.
- In a bowl whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.
- Add the butter, and with a pasty cutter or your hands, work the butter into the flour until it is a crumbly dough.
- Measure out about 2 tablespoons of the dough for the crumble topping, and refrigerate.
- Then press the remaining dough into the baking pan.
- Put the pan into the freezer for about 10 minutes to make the dough firm.
- Then bake the dough for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and spread on the lemon curd, making sure to leave a border about a 1/2 inch wide.
- Crumble on the 2 tbsp of remaining refrigerated dough.
- Return the square to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
- Let the baked square cool for at least 20 minutes, then using the parchment overhang lift it out of the pan and cut into squares.
Keywords: lemon curd, lemon curd shortbread, shortbread squares