(from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau)
Ingredients- crust
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated, nondairy butter, at room temperature (I like EarthBalance)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Ingredients- filling
1/2 cup silken tofu (soft or firm, I used soft)
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest from 2 lemons (the more the better, I think! I zest every last bit off of those lemons. :))
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons)
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Confectioners' sugar, sifted (I didn't bother to sift anything)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C or gas mark 4). Grease an 8x8 inch (20x20 cm) baking pan with canola oil or a cooking spray and sprinkle with just a light dusting of all purpose flour.
To make the crust, in the bowl of your electric stand or hand mixer, cream the butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour, and beat until the dough just comes together. Press into the bottom of your prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.
To make the filling, in a food processor or blender (oops, just realized I just used my hand mixer!), add the tofu and blend until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and blend until nice and smooth. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, flour, and cornstarch. Pour the filling over the baked shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling is set. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
To serve, cut into squares or bars and dust with the sifted confectioners' sugar. Wait until you're just about to serve the bars before you sprinkle them with the confectioners' sugar. Otherwise, it will soak into the bars and you'll miss out on that pretty presentation. (I just do it after they've cooled a bit, and I add enough that it stays on there! :)) I think these are best eaten the day they are made, but they can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. (I tend to bake at like midnight a lot, so I always eat them the next day, and they're great that way! :))
So I tried out my first recipe from my new cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking, and it was my trusty lemon bars. I'm excited to say they were a total success, and every bit as delish as my old non-vegan lemon bars. My sister even liked them better.
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but um, books are sort of my favorite thing. Oh, ok, I guess there's love and family and humanity, and all sorts of other pretty major deals... but I'm not gonna lie, they've got to work hard to compare with the bound paper I can stack on my bookshelves.
