Lemon Bars & White Chocolate Ganache (?)

[bejace3]

Hello all!

I have a tasty lemon bar recipe that I've used before and I'm happy with. I am wanting to experiment with it though. I am interested in somehow including white chocolate with it. I thought of doing a white chocolate ganache with it but am debating as to the method of when I should add the ganache. Do I put it on top after baking? Do I pipe some on before baking? Should I layer it in between the shortbread crust and the lemon filling?

I am open to other ideas with the white chocolate ganache. I thought of topping lemon bars with coconut also. Any thoughts or recommendations are welcome!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hello all!

I have a tasty lemon bar recipe that I've used before and I'm happy with. I am wanting to experiment with it though. I am interested in somehow including white chocolate with it. I thought of doing a white chocolate ganache with it but am debating as to the method of when I should add the ganache. Do I put it on top after baking? Do I pipe some on before baking? Should I layer it in between the shortbread crust and the lemon filling?

I am open to other ideas with the white chocolate ganache. I thought of topping lemon bars with coconut also. Any thoughts or recommendations are welcome!

Personally I would not use white chocolate in a lemon bar. A lemon bar had tart filling with shortbread crust that is light and crisp. So it enhances the lemon filling.

White chocolate ganache is the opposite; it it rich, viscous, heavy, and extremely sweet.

The components of white chocolate ganache, and lemon curd, cream, or mousse work in a cake or other application but I don’t think they work well in a lemon bar.

 

[J13]

The components of white chocolate ganache, and lemon curd, cream, or mousse work in a cake or other application but I don’t think they work well in a lemon bar.

I’m in agreement. Unlike with, say, brownies or Blondies which are a strong enough canvass for heavy sweet flavors and textures like caramel or frostings, lemon bars lose their whole purpose if they don’t remain primarily tart and light. That is what most want from a lemon bar. So other flavors need to be equally light.

The most light and complementary to lemon are floral or herbal flavors. So, for example, you can add lavender to the shortbread (pulse it with the other dry ingredients in a food processor), and have some lovely lavender lemon bars (one recipe for this here: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/lavender-lemon-bars/)

As for white chocolate (or dark)...if you lightly drizzled a little melted white chocolate on top of the baked bars, you’d might get that white chocolate flavor you want without overpowering the lemon. You could try it on one and taste it and see how it worked out.

As for coconut, it would probably work best mixed into the shortbread crust, so you have a coconut-shortbread crust, or toasted and layered on top of the crust before you pour in the lemon curd, as a thin layer between the curd and the shortbread.

 

[J13]

Just to add, if you really want to use that white chocolate ganache with something lemon, why not a lemon cake/cupcakes? Cake might manage to hold its own with that ganache, and you'd have that mix of textures—creamy with cake, rather than creamy curd with creamy ganache.

 

[Judi Blazek]

Hello all!

I have a tasty lemon bar recipe that I've used before and I'm happy with. I am wanting to experiment with it though. I am interested in somehow including white chocolate with it. I thought of doing a white chocolate ganache with it but am debating as to the method of when I should add the ganache. Do I put it on top after baking? Do I pipe some on before baking? Should I layer it in between the shortbread crust and the lemon filling?

I am open to other ideas with the white chocolate ganache. I thought of topping lemon bars with coconut also. Any thoughts or recommendations are welcome!

I have purchased lemon bars from a local Italian specialty bakery and they place a thin layer of white chocolate ganache on top of the lemon bars. They decorate the top of each square with a tiny yellow buttercream rosette and a few very tiny curls of white chocolate. The bottom crust is shortbread. They are absolutely amazing!!!