Foodie Fridays: Lemon Bars with Chocolate Crust

From The Flying Olive

It all started with a recent post on HGTV's "Design Happens" blog extolling the virtues of decorating with the color yellow when entertaining.  A picture of lemon bars was shown.  One of my favorite color combinations is sunny lemon yellow with rich chocolate brown.  So I thought, "I wonder if I can find a recipe for lemon bars with a chocolate crust?"  Unfortunately, while I could find pictures of such a creation, there were no recipes.  That's when I decided I had to come up with one.  After a couple of tries, here is the result.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.  The key here is to use the pan size indicated, since the proportion of filling to crust as well as the thickness of both are important, and these will change depending on pan dimensions.  Next time I may use more lemons to increase the tartness of the filling.  I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Lemon Bars with Chocolate Crust

Crust:

4 pieces Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Miniatures

8 T. (1 stick) butter, cut into eight pieces

1 C. flour

2 T. cocoa powder

1/4 C. sugar

Filling:

1 1/2 C. sugar

6 T. flour

2 lemons, zested and juiced

4 eggs, beaten

Microwave chocolate pieces 30 seconds.  Add butter and microwave another 30 seconds.  Stir until chocolate and butter are completely melted and blended (microwave an additional few seconds if necessary).  Combine dry ingredients.  Stir in the wet ingredients until a smooth dough forms.  Press dough evenly into the bottom of a 9-inch square pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool slightly.

Combine all filling ingredients and whisk until smooth.  Pour over crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until filling is set but not hard.  Cool completely on wire rack (filling will firm up).  Cut into 16 squares and dust with confectioner's sugar if desired.