About this Recipe

It’s true, chocolate and lemon are a somewhat odd combination. The sweet and the sour are not everyone’s cup of tea. For those of you who are interested, it is a surprisingly satisfying flavor but requires a more sophisticated palette and a supreme love of lemon. Not only are you getting the subtle sweetness and saltiness of the shortbread, but you also get some tartness from the lemon and then some bitter flavour from the dark chocolate. So it's a dessert recipe that hits all of your taste buds for a full flavour profile. This easy and delicious dessert has it all.

Grandmother’s TIPS for Lemon Chocolate Shortbread Cookie Recipe:

1. This Easy Homemade Chocolate Sauce Recipe does NOT harden. They need to be refrigerated as a single layer.

2. This dessert is the very best when served the same day.

3. This dessert recipe does NOT freeze well because of the chocolate sauce.

4. Not interested in adding lemon and chocolate to your shortbread recipe, we suggest checking out Grandmother's basic Classic Shortbread Recipe.

5. Wash your lemon with either vinegar water or with Thieves fruit and veggie spray. Because you are making zest and going to be consuming it, you want to be sure any sprays or bacteria are washed off the lemon.

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Ingredients

(Print)

Makes: 16 pieces

Shortbread Crust:

1/2 cup salted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoon all purpose flour

3 Tablespoons confectioners' sugar

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 cup Lemon Filling - Classic Lemon Curd Recipe

While the crust is baking make the filling or if you have pre-made remove from the refrigerator and warm up on the stove-top over low heat to soften.

1/2 cup chocolate sauce

Chocolate Layer - Easy Homemade Chocolate Sauce Recipe

If you have pre-made the chocolate sauce remove from the refrigerator to bring to room temperature for easy spreading.

confectioners' sugar - for dusting

Lemon zest - you will need one washed lemon - for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Line a 9x9 baking dish with parchment paper. Let it go up the sides for easier removal of the baked dessert later.

3. Melt the butter over low heat, remove from heat and set aside to bring to room temperature.

4. Place the flour, sugar and cornstarch in a mixing bowl and stir together to combine.

5. Stir in the melted butter and use and electric mixer to combine to make the crust dough.

6. Beat until the dough forms little pea size clumps.

7. Use a spatula to get any bits off the bottom and sides of the bowl and transfer to the baking dish.

8. Use a spatula to spread the crust evenly across the bottom of the baking dish. Pat down with your fingertip.

9. Use something like a potato masher or you could use a glass jar bottom to press the crust firmly down.

10. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven when ready and set onto a cooling pad.

11. Meanwhile you are either making the lemon curd from scratch or if using pre-made put into a saucepan and heat on the stove-top enough to soften.

12. While the crust is still hot from the oven spread a thin layer of lemon curd evenly over the crust.

13. Place back into the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the crust is lightly browned.

14. Remove from the oven to a cooling pad. Let sit a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack leaving the parchment paper on.

15. Let cool to room temperature then wrap with aluminum foil and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

16. Wash your lemon with either vinegar water or with Thieves fruit and veggie spray. Because you are making zest and going to be consuming it, you want to be sure any sprays or bacteria are washed off the lemon.

17. Using a lemon zester tool or a very fine grater, and grate the outside of the lemon onto a little dish. Only take the very top outside layer of the lemon. Set aside.

18. Remove lemon shortbread from refrigerator. Slice into four squares and cut off the outside edge. Coat each section with a layer of chocolate sauce. Cut each section into 4 pieces.

19. Place onto your serving dish, very lightly dust with confectioners' sugar and place a little zest on top of each one.

Tip: This chocolate sauce does NOT harden. It stays a soft texture and is a nice compliment to the texture of the shortbread crust and tangy gel lemon curd. That being said you cannot 'stack' these squares. They need to be refrigerated single layer. Very best when served the same day or one day old. Because of the chocolate syrup these are not easy to freeze as the chocolate always stays on the sticky side.

ENJOY!

Return to this Lemon Chocolate Shortbread Squares recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

Chocolate, lemon curd and shortbread are wonderful treats all on their own or in their own dessert recipes, but have you ever tried them together? It might sound strange at first, but the flavours actually compliment each other really well.

The shortbread on the bottom is an essential and classic easy dessert recipe that we all know and love. This type of recipe has been around for centuries and is loved on its own as cookies, but it can also be used in many dessert recipes as a crust for the dessert. It's an excellent base for sweet desserts because it helps to balance out the other sweeter flavours while providing a bottom layer to build and hold other ingredients.

The lemon curd is the next ingredient, and in it, you have a lot of fresh lemon juice and lemon zest which gives it that tart lemony flavour. A good tip is to use the best quality ingredients for your lemon curd to make it shine. Use Meyer Lemons, good quality butter and organic eggs. You can even try using coconut oil for a dairy-free option. If you want your lemon curd to be extra thick, just add in either an extra egg or egg yolk.

Instead of a meringue topping like you would have in a lemon pie, you'll do a chocolate topping. The chocolate topping is a chocolate sauce that you can either use cocoa powder for, or you can try using raw cacao powder for this recipe too. Raw cacao may seem very similar to cocoa powder, the names even look the same, but raw cacao is unrefined meaning it will contain more nutrients than processed cocoa. Raw cacao includes nutrients like magnesium and antioxidants in it. But just like any other dessert, you'll want to eat this one in moderation and enjoy and savour every bite of this easy and delicious dessert.