Paleo Lemon bars

May is always a special month for me. Both Mother’s day and my birthday arrive along with the spring blossoms. That makes me a Taurus, and in case you don’t know about us, we are hedonists. Plain and simple. Now we don’t mind working hard to get the sweetness of life, but it is all about pleasure on some deep primal level for us. So generally, all bets are off for my birthday/mother’s day week. I get to eat, drink and play whatever I want. Yup.

Now with that said, I must say I used to bake bake bake, and now I don’t that much. I miss it but realize it is part of one of the things I need to give up in order to be healthy. But this last week I baked up a birthday! It started innocently enough with paleo lemon bars that where fantastic but went downhill from there.

A play on S’mores the Camp pastry chef made.

I then made a truly incredible cinnamon chocolate cake for cinco de mayo, followed closely by a crazy delicious passion fruit chiffon cake that I have wanted to make for years. It.was.amazing. But it didn’t stop there. Caveman hubby and I took off to the San Juan Islands to visit his eldest brother and sister-in-law who run this very remarkable French Camp for kids on a small private island that is owned and operated by a non-profit. There we participated in a French pastry workshop and ate enough fresh baked bread for the rest of the year…seriously. Oh don’t forget the fine wine and cheese that was indulged in as well. Yes, when I fall off the paleo/primal wagon, I do it only like a Taurus can.

A sunset from Canoe Island

We returned on Monday night, sodden with bread, wine and sugar, aching to return to the cavewoman’s path. It was amazing how tried and cranky I got and how foggy my brain felt the whole time. Also the aches and pains were screaming! I’m a true believer in you have to stray from the path once in a while to appreciate where you are at. (Of course I would, I’m a Taurus) I’m appreciating this way of eating now!

This week is transition week. It is amazing how fast one can become a “sugar burner” and I’m there. So I am focusing on eating fresh and low carb. Tonight we are having chicken no-posole soup, which is my favorite. That always brings me back around to the right path in short order.

I’m sharing with you here today those crazy delicious lemon bars that started this whole indulgent week. I’m curious to try them with passion fruit puree instead of the lemon juice next time. I think they would rock the free world that way. But, I’ll save that for another time, like the caveman hubby’s birthday in a month. 🙂 Enjoy and Happy belated mother’s day!

Paelo lemon bars

Paleo lemon bars
Adapted from a “bomb diggity” (her words!) recipe from “Delighted Momma” I think it might help to whisk in a couple tablespoons of arrowroot powder in the filling before cooking it. It might set up firmer but quite delicious this way!

The crust;
2 cups of almond flour
¼ cup of honey
½ cup of coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 eggs

Heat up the oven to 350 degrees and get ready to rumble! Mix together the honey, melted coconut oil, vanilla and eggs and whip till well mixed. Pour the almond flour in a bowl and mix the wet ingredients in till well blended. Line a 8 x 12 baking dish with parchment paper and dump your mixture evenly over the pan and press it down till the crust is uniformly distributed over the pan and tucked in all nice, like a kid at bed time. Pop in the oven to bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are lightly brown. Set it aside to cool while you make the yummy filling.

The filling;
6 eggs
1 cup of Meyer’s lemon juice, fresh squeezed
zest of one or two lemons
½ cup of honey
¼ cup of coconut palm sugar
A pinch of sea salt
½ cup of coconut oil, melted

In a small sauce pan that is prepared to make magic, whisk together all the ingredients but the coconut oil over medium heat. While whisking, slowly pour in the melted coconut oil till well blended. Now the hard part, whisk and whisk and whisk over the medium heat until the fragrant mix starts to thicken. Do not give up! This is a test of your strength and fortitude. (A line right out of Julia Child) Keep whisking till the filling becomes a nice pudding like texture and you want to eat it. Remove from the heat and let it cool, whisking occasionally. Once it is coolish, pour into the waiting crust. Place in the freezer to harden. Take it out and cut into squares while frozen then indulge. I recommend keeping them in the freezer as they are a bit gooey. Lovely but gooey.