Before you turn up your nose, hear me out. These are damn tasty, and they have the taste and texture of regular lemon bars. The only real difference is the addition of tofu for the eggs. I dare you to give this recipe a try and see what you think. I did not divulge my secret about my ingredient substitutions and there were no questions or complaints. Just powdered sugar noses to show their enjoyment.
I have the book The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I picked it up at the used book store and am ever so pleased that I did. With sensitivities to dairy products and eggs in my family this book has come in very handy.
Honestly they are just like *regular* lemon bars. Tart, sweet, crunchy, gooey.
Lemon Bars
adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking
makes an 8″ square pan (20cm)
- 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine or butter, room temp
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour or spelt flour
- 1/2 cup silken tofu (soft or firm)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 lemons, zested and juiced (about 1/3 cup juice)
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch (non gmo is best)
- powdered sugar, sifted, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 8 inch square pan.
For the crust, cream the butter and 1/4 cup powdered sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix until the dough begins to come together. Dump into your prepared pan and press into the bottom evenly. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool.
On to the filling, using a food processor or blender blitz the tofu until creamy. Add the sugar and continue to blend until smooth. Add the lemon zest, juice, flour and cornstarch. Combine gently. Pour onto prepared crust and back for 20-40 minutes, until the custard has set. Remove to cool.
Once cool, cut into squares for serving and dust with powdered sugar only as you are about to serve or else the powdered sugar melts into the lemon curd like top. This step is completely optional. They are divine on their own, the added dusting of sugar is not necessary.
other similar posts to try:
Simply Recipes gingered lemon bars
Closet Cooking meyer lemon bars
Eating Out Loud blood orange lemon bars
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Ha! Would never turn up my nose at anything with lemon. Love lemon bars and am wondering right now when the last time I made them. Sounds delicious about now. Wish I had some with my cuppa.
Hmm … I came back home at 8:00 pm with 5 lemons and 2 boxes of tofu. I turned on the computer an hour later and found this recipe on Kristen’s blog.
I think it’s a sign. I’m fated to make these vegan bars.
They look delicious! I’ve made pies using silken tofu a few times and am amazed by how wonderful it is desserts.
Kelly, you make so many delicious looking sweets that I would love to have with my cuppa any day of the week!
Leela, what a coincidence. If you made them how did they turn out?
Allen, this was my first time using tofu in this type of recipe. I was very surprised/pleased in the outcome. Maybe next time I try it in your blood orange bars?
those sounds really good! i might have to give those a try.
I have this book and have looked at this recipe wondering how it would work….some tofu stuff works…and some is pretty bad. Glad to know this was a winner!