Raspberry Lemonade Bars

Boy have I had a time with these. This is a combination and an adaptation of two different recipes I found online. The first recipe was Strawberry Lemonade Bars on Baking Bites. I made them several months ago and though the crust was great and they were a cute pink color they were way too tart for my taste. Then I saw Raspberry Lemonade Bars on Sophistimom and made them for my nieces' blessing dinner. I really didn't like the crust on those and there was too much filling (and still too tart). So I thought and thought for a few months and decided to try combining the two. So the crust is from the Baking Bites recipe and the filling is adapted from the Sophistimom recipe. Since raspberries have a more distinct flavor, I stuck with them for the filling versus strawberries.

RASPBERRY LEMONADE BARS

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed

Filling:
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. lemon zest
3/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 (12 oz) bag frozen raspberries, thawed
powdered sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.

Pour thawed raspberries into a fine mesh sieve placed over a glass measuring cup. Using a rubber spatula, press and scrape raspberries to extract juice:

You will need 1/2 cup. Discard seeds and pulp.

To make the crust, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Press firmly and evenly in bottom of baking dish and bake for 17 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, lemon juice and zest, flour, salt, and raspberry juice. Pour into hot crust and return to oven for 18-20 minutes or until filling is set. Cool completely on a wire rack then chill for at least 2 hours. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars with a clean, wet knife.