I took a break from my blog for the holidays. It actually wasn’t intentional. I kept trying to get it done. But with the kids and dad at home, our opportunity to finally hang out together, the last minute present buying and wrapping, and packing us all for the travel that would take us through 3 family visits, something had to give.

But I’m back!

And it got me thinking…those ‘special recipes’ handed down through generations and full of white flour, sugar, (and probably butter, milk, and eggs if its a traditional recipe) are still wonderful, but maybe are best reserved for more special occasions than just after dinner on a Thursday night.

But what about Thursday night after dinner? My husband might say we can do without, but I want dessert! And I refuse to give it up. My adorable little Meyer lemon tree’s first batch of lemons finally ripened, and it seemed obvious..lemon bars!

So what makes these Lemon Bars ‘Everyday’ ? I made a couple of changes that make it a much more body friendly treat, exchanging half of the white flour for whole wheat pastry flour and decreasing the sugar by using apple juice to help sweeten the filling. There are, of course, no butter or milk or eggs. The thickening of the filling comes from a combination of Kuzu, Agar, Cornstarch and Flour.

So here’s to dropping a few pounds in the new year, without dropping dessert!

Everyday Vegan Lemon Bars

Ingredients:

 Crust:

 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4  cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup light cane sugar

 1/4 rounded teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable shortening

Filling:

3/4 cup apple juice

2/3 cup lemon juice

3/4 light cane sugar

3 teaspoons Agar Flakes

3/4 cup non dairy milk

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons Kuzu

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

1/4  teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon lemon zest (optional)

powdered sugar for dusting

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and line an 8 inch square pan with enough parchment paper to overhang the edges. Grease paper.

In a food processor, add all of the crust ingredients and pulse until crumbly. Pour out into the pan and press firmly with your fingers. Bake 18 minutes.

While the crust is baking, add the apple juice, lemon juice, light cane sugar and agar flakes to a medium saucepan. Let sit for about 10 minutes to allow the agar to bloom, then heat over low-medium, stirring occasionally until sugar and agar flakes are completely dissolved.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix non-dairy milk, cornstarch, kuzu, flour and salt and blend with a fork until smooth.

*(Hint- To avoid lumps-Add the dry ingredients first and then just enough wet to mix, you can then make a smooth paste before adding the rest of the liquid ingredients)

Slowly stream into the saucepan with the juice, whisking continuously to avoid any lumps, until it thickens.

Take saucepan off of the heat and add turmeric, lemon and vanilla extracts and zest (if using), and mix well. Pour into the warm crust and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

It should just start bubbling around the edges and look set and shiny on the top, but maintain a bit of a jiggle. It will continue to firm as it cools.

Take out of the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack.

When fully cooled, cut and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

*For the life of me I can’t get the powdered sugar to stop dissolving from the tops after sitting for long periods. So go ahead and cut the bars, and sprinkle them with the powdered sugar at the last minute.