Lemon Bars - no eggs

We like lemony sweets. I happened to see a picture of lemon bars on the Internet the day before. Bright lemony cream on sandy buttery crust sounded lovely. But I must confess that I am not a big fan of lemon curd, which is usually too eggy for me. Still enchanted by the magical lemon bars' image, I was wondering if there was a recipe for egg free lemon bars. Actually there were several.

Inspired by multiple vegetarian or vegan online recipes and a couple of Microbiotic cooking books in my book shelf, I was able to develop my own recipe of "Lemon bars - no eggs"!

The filling was nicely thicken but smooth with very bright lemony flavor from two whole lemon juice and zest. Of course, NO EGGY!! The secret of the perfect texture was agar powder. Agar is a super food: rich in calcium, iron, fiber, no sugar, no fat, no carb. Which is why my mother kindly sends me some regularly from Japan. Agar powder is used to make jelly, like gelatin. So adding a little of agar powder gave the filling firm texture, but still smooth. By the way, there was soy milk in the filling, but don't worry, no taste of soy in the output at all.

I was also happy with light crispy buttery crust with a hint of vanilla. I didn't need to make mine total vegan, so didn't give up rich butter flavor for the bottom.

My lemon bars were much less refined sugar than many vegetarian or vegan lemon bars recipes. Splenda did a great job to sweeten lemon fillings. I would try to replace sugar for the crust with Splenda next time although I was not sure if a crust with Splenda had the same pleasant texture as one with sugar. We'll see.

These lemon bars were irresistible! So GOOD!!
 
Lemon Bars - no eggs
MAKES 8" x 8"

Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
7 tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling
1/2 cup soy milk
3/4 cup Splenda
lemon zest from 2 large lemons
lemon juice from 2 large lemons (about 1/2 cup)
2 tbs all-purpose flour
2 tbs corn starch
1 tsp (2 g) agar powder
1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp Grand Marnier
pinch of turmeric for color

1. In a bowl, whisk flour, sugar, salt. Add butter and vanilla and stir until smooth. Pour the batter into the foil-sheeted 8" x 8" baking pan. Smooth the surface. Bake at 350F, about 25 min.
2. While baking the crust, in a different bowl, whisk all filling ingredients until smooth. Pour the fillings into the baked crust. Back the ban into the oven, bake another 30 min.
3. Cool on the rack, then, in the refrigerator without cover for 3 hours. Then, cover with plastic wrap until serving. When serving, cut into a favorite size. Dust the surface with powder sugar for optional decoration.