Paleo Lemon Bars

views the best pictures

These lemon bars are addicting.  Our family loves the bitter sweet taste of this lemon curd.  Sweet and Sour is what my son calls them.  At first bite you think maybe its not to your liking, but once you are finished your slice you almost need to eat the whole tray!  The bottom has  bit of a coconut taste to them that reminds me a bit of Almond Joy without the chocolate!!

You may notice that this curd is a bit eggy in ingredients compared to the traditional lemon curds.  I did this because traditionally lemon curd uses a grain of some sort (wheat flour) to help with the thickening.  I was figuring extra eggs = extra thickening power. This dish does not, however, taste eggy.  I do love how the eggs bring extra protein to the party to help offset the pure sugary goodness of the honey.  Very rarely do I use more than 2 Tablespoons of honey in any dish, but this time I did for the pungent lemon's sake.  1/3'rd cup equals 5 Tablespoons!  So take small slices. ;-)

For the Lemon Curd:
6 Eggs
1/3 cup Raw Honey
3/4 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 cup Coconut Oil

For the Bars:
1/2 c. Pecans (or walnuts)
1/2 c. Almonds
1 cup finely shredded Unsweetened Coconut
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Raw Honey
1 Tablespoon Almond Butter
1 Tablespoon Oil
1 Tablespoon Almond Milk
pinch of Salt

Grease an 8 x 12 glass dish.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• In a small sauce pan, place all the Lemon Curd ingredients.
• Start to whip up and combine ~ this part is done off of the heat in a cold pan.
• Place fully whipped ingredients in the sauce pan over medium-low heat.  
• Whip Constantly for approximately 15 minutes.  Sauce will start to thicken to the consistency of pudding.
• Take off heat and allow to cool.
• Meanwhile add pecans/walnuts and almonds into food processor.
• Puree until the loud clanking of the nuts subsides and the almonds look like they are just about to be butter.
• Add all remaining ingredients for the bars into a food processor.
• Puree until fully combined.
• With a spatula scoop out bar batter and spread out onto glass baking sheet.  You may need your hands for this part because batter is not easily spread!
• Bake for 15 minutes.  
• Once bars are done, take the dish out and cool.  
• Once both top and bottom are fully cooled at room temperature, scoop lemon curd onto top of bar and cover.  
• Place in refrigerator to cool for several hours.  These bars NEED to chill to set up.