Splenda is good in your coffee, but not too good when you’re baking..

I learned a valuable lesson last night... Splenda is good in your coffee, but not too good when you’re baking..

I wanted lemon squares last night (Okay, really I wanted a big bowl of chocolate peanut butter ice cream, but I’ve got another 8 days to go to give in to that craving) so I’m trying to be good here and I made my lemon squares with Splenda.. Well.. The cookie part came out just fine, but the lemon part came out very dry and odd tasting. I like splenda in my coffee, but it’s not the right thing to be baking with... Now, in all honesty I did use Regular splenda (even though in hindsight, I do have a bag of splenda for baking in the cabinet ) The cookie part is excellent, but the top lemon layer leaves much to be desired, I’m glad I only made a very small batch though.

I’ve listed the recipe below, this is slightly different from the Lemon Bar recipe that I previously posted, the cookie layer is seriously lemony as well as the lemon topping.. YUM!! Gonna try this again tonight with Real Sugar and do a side by side comparison for y’all :)

Lemony lemon bars

Crust:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
grated zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbs Lemon juice

Topping:

4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°f.
2. For crust, in a medium bowl stir together flour and brown sugar.
3. Cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Press flour mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking pan.
5. Bake 15 minutes.
6. Meanwhile prepare topping. Beat eggs slightly.
7. In a separate bowl, stir together sugar and flour. Add to eggs. Beat well.
8. Add lemon juice, peel, baking powder, and salt. Beat until smooth.
9. Pour over baked crust. Return to oven and bake 25-30 minutes longer, or until just set.
10. Sprinkle with powdered sugar while hot. Let cool and cut into bars.