Delicious Lemon Bars

I decided to whip out my 8x8 square baking pan once more and make something that would really make it feel like summer. I opened my fridge to find that my mom had bought about a pound of lemons. What to do? I love bars: nanaimo, peanut butter, chocolate, granola but one of my all-time favourites has got to the classic lemon bar. The lemony-citrusy taste practically screams summer is in town. I had a really simple recipe hanging around my kitchen and remembered how much everyone loved them the last time I baked them. (They're also reasonably healthy, with a few alterations)

Lemon Bars

Ingredients for Crust
1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar (I use unpacked confectioners)
1 cup flour
A pinch of salt

Method for Crust
1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. In a medium bowl, beat margarine and sugar until creamy. Add flour and salt and stir until well combined and crumbly.

3. Press into the bottom of an 8x8 square pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are pale golden.

Ingredients for Lemon Topping
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 large egg (I used 1/4 cup egg substitute)
1 large egg white
The grated zest of 1 lemon
The juice of 1 lemon (approximately 3 tbsp.)
Icing sugar for sprinkling

Method (continued...)
4. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Add egg, egg white, lemon zest and juice and stir until well blended and smooth. Pour over the base. Return to the oven for 25-30 minutes, until slightly golden on top and bubbly around the edges.

5. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Sprinkle with icing sugar before cutting into bars.

6. Makes 12-16 bars (depending on how you cut it)

At 12 bars and not using my alterations the nutritional information is as follow:

Per bar: 165 calories, 4.3 g fat (.7 g saturated, 2.7 g monounsaturated, .5 g polyunsaturated), 30.3 g carbohydrates, 18 mg cholesterol, 91.2 mg sodium, 0.4 g fiber, 23% calories from fat.