As I child, and as an adult for that matter, lemon meringue pie was my absolute favourite dessert. My mom would make me a pie and I would eat the entire thing in approximately two days! During my boredom and recovery I came across this lemon bar recipe on Busy But Healthy and couldn’t resist giving it a try!
No-Bake Lemon Bars (gluten free)
Makes 16 squares
Crust:
1/2 cup almond butter, smooth (could also use natural peanut butter, or for nut free use Sunbutter) *I used natural peanut butter*
1/4 cup unsweetened medium coconut
2 x 30 gram scoops vanilla whey protein (I use Whey Gourmet Naturelle) *See Note
1/2 cup oat flour (just grind up oats in your blender or food processor)
15 drops liquid stevia (SweetLeaf or NuNaturals) *I omitted this*
2-3 Tbsp water *I used a bit more water because I omitted the sweetener liquid*
Filling:
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1/3 cup lemon juice, strained (from about 2 lemons)
1 egg
50+ drops liquid stevia (or to taste) *I omitted*
In a bowl, mix together all the crust ingredients, adding the water last. You want enough water to just hold it together. If its too crumbly add more water. You just don’t it too sticky. Press the crust into an 8×8 dish sprayed with cooking spray.
In a small saucepan, add the lemon juice, zest & stevia over low to medium heat. Immediately add the 1 egg and whisk until the mixture thickens. (You don’t want to add the egg too late after the lemon mixture is hot or you risk scrambling the egg). Taste and add more stevia if desired. I liked it a little bit on the tart side, as when its paired with the sweeter crust, it was perfect.
Pour the filling over the crust and spread until even.
Cover with foil and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Cut into 16 squares and keep stored in the fridge or freezer. Do not stack them or it will ruin the filling on top.
*A couple notes on this recipe, without the sweetener this bar was REALLLY tart, but I like that, if you aren’t into that I suggest the stevia or even a bit of agave or some other natural sweetener. Also, I wasn’t paying attention when the filing mixture was on the stove which resulted in the egg starting to cook a little bit – I caught it just before it became too gross to use so keep an eye on it!*
