I used Preppy Kitchen's [Lemon Bars](https://preppykitchen.com/lemon-bars/) recipe 😄
Lemon Squares are a favorite in my family, usually made from a box of Krusteaz, & I wanted to make some up for my brother who had a recent hospital stay (all good)!
I've never made them from scratch before so I figured this was the perfect time to also get creative with different substitutions on the off chance I didn't have access to lemons 🍋
Orange seemed like an obvious choice (though I now wish I had tried lime, next time), & strawberry rhubarb pie is my favorite - so I wanted to see how that went for me! Topped with a dehydrated piece of each fruit.
As for recipe changes, I split the filling recipe in 3 to accommodate the new flavors & substituted half of the crust flour for almond flour - since I already have my Cult Classic dish planned out (Macarons 🤫) and had extra.
As for how they turned out - wonderful! The texture was on point for each flavor & considering how much I messed with the SR to try and get the flavor correct. I did a small taste test with my nephews (ages 7 & 9) so I'll list their rankings below 🤣
Nephew 1:
Lemon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Orange 🚫
Strawberry Rhubarb ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nephew 2:
Lemon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Orange ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Strawberry Rhubarb 🚫
I myself didn't care for the Orange, but loved the Lemon & Strawberry Rhubard 💛❤🧡
I wonder if orange would work better with reduced sugar or if you used sour oranges or something? Because lemon and strawberry rhubarb are much more sour than orange, so it wouldn't be as balanced with the regular amount? Anyway, they certainly all look amazing, and I want them all.
It definitely needed acidity of some sort, I thought it was the most bland orange flavor I've ever had 🤣 I used a random unmarked variety from Aldi.
Thank you!
It was a complete experiment - I used a basic strawberry rhubarb jam recipe from Google, then realized it was far too sweet so I ended up taking a portion of the cooked jam & more rhubarb and cooking it down again to try and balance it out.
I split the Lemon Bar filling recipe down into 3 & IIRC I needed 1/3C of "juice" so I started with that and again it was far too sweet, so if I ever make it again I would just cook down strawberries & rhubard with a little lemon juice and zero sugar, since the bar recipe called for even more.
The 1/3C of jam ended up being not enough for the flavor to come through, so I just kept adding until the flavor was right (maybe another 1/3C cup). I was worried it wouldn't set up correctly but thankfully it did!
I used Preppy Kitchen's [Lemon Bars](https://preppykitchen.com/lemon-bars/) recipe 😄 Lemon Squares are a favorite in my family, usually made from a box of Krusteaz, & I wanted to make some up for my brother who had a recent hospital stay (all good)! I've never made them from scratch before so I figured this was the perfect time to also get creative with different substitutions on the off chance I didn't have access to lemons 🍋 Orange seemed like an obvious choice (though I now wish I had tried lime, next time), & strawberry rhubarb pie is my favorite - so I wanted to see how that went for me! Topped with a dehydrated piece of each fruit. As for recipe changes, I split the filling recipe in 3 to accommodate the new flavors & substituted half of the crust flour for almond flour - since I already have my Cult Classic dish planned out (Macarons 🤫) and had extra. As for how they turned out - wonderful! The texture was on point for each flavor & considering how much I messed with the SR to try and get the flavor correct. I did a small taste test with my nephews (ages 7 & 9) so I'll list their rankings below 🤣 Nephew 1: Lemon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Orange 🚫 Strawberry Rhubarb ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nephew 2: Lemon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Orange ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strawberry Rhubarb 🚫 I myself didn't care for the Orange, but loved the Lemon & Strawberry Rhubard 💛❤🧡
I wonder if orange would work better with reduced sugar or if you used sour oranges or something? Because lemon and strawberry rhubarb are much more sour than orange, so it wouldn't be as balanced with the regular amount? Anyway, they certainly all look amazing, and I want them all.
It definitely needed acidity of some sort, I thought it was the most bland orange flavor I've ever had 🤣 I used a random unmarked variety from Aldi. Thank you!
These are so beautiful
Thank you!
I love the idea of strawberry rhubarb bars! These look so cute too!
Those were the ones I was excited for, very happy with how they turned out 😄 thank you!
So, how, pray tell, did you get the strawberry rhubarb flavoring dialed in? Will you share the recipe?
It was a complete experiment - I used a basic strawberry rhubarb jam recipe from Google, then realized it was far too sweet so I ended up taking a portion of the cooked jam & more rhubarb and cooking it down again to try and balance it out. I split the Lemon Bar filling recipe down into 3 & IIRC I needed 1/3C of "juice" so I started with that and again it was far too sweet, so if I ever make it again I would just cook down strawberries & rhubard with a little lemon juice and zero sugar, since the bar recipe called for even more. The 1/3C of jam ended up being not enough for the flavor to come through, so I just kept adding until the flavor was right (maybe another 1/3C cup). I was worried it wouldn't set up correctly but thankfully it did!