GAPS lemon bars
| July 7, 2012 | Posted by Caroline Lunger under dessert, GAPS, real food |
Today it reached 102 degrees today! Have you ever heard of weather like that in Minnesota? After swimming all day on the lake, my sister and her friend wanted something sweet but light. Lemon bars sounded perfect to them! You see.. my little sister and her friend love to bake, but they love to bake with white sugar and white flour. We eat mostly GAPS food around here at my house, so that was not an option for the whole family. They were a little skeptical, but to their surprise these turned out great! They taste just like the unhealthy lemon bars full of sugar. Heres a little secret…they are actually quite healthy! These luscious lemon bars are filled with grass fed butter, raw honey, organic lemons, and lots of love 
These are a must have treat on the GAPS diet. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
1 1/2 cup Blanched Almond Meal Flour
1/2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt®
1-2 TBS honey
2 TBS room temp butter
1 TBP Vanilla Extract
Lemon Filling:
1/2 cup Organic Lemon Juice
3 pastured eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup melted butter
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease a 9×9 in baking dish
with butter
3. Dust the baking dish with almond flour
4. (dry) Mix almond flour and salt
5. (dry) Add in butter, vanilla, and honey
6. (dry) Mix these ingredients until you form a nice ball
7. Press you ball of almond dough into the bottom of your prepared pan
8. Bake for 10-15 min until golden brown on top
9. While the crust is baking mix all the lemon filling ingredients in a bowl
10. (wet) Mix the filling ingredients with a wisk or in a blender
11. Take out the almond crust and pour the lemon filling over it
12. Return the baking dish to the oven for 15-20 minutes until edges and top is slightly golden brown (you don’t want your crust to burn, watch it carefully!)
13. Take out the lemon bars and let cool on the counter for 30 min. If you cannot wait another moment you can eat them now (like we did) or put them in the fridge for 2 hours until set (this will make them easier to cut)
14. Eat and savor!
~stay gutsy, Caroline Lunger
Those look really good. I’ve only recently heard of the GAPS diet and most of what I’ve heard makes it sound like quite a challenge… I went on a very restrictive diet years ago and didn’t have the benefit of blogs sharing recipes for ways to make it more bearable. Thanks so much for sharing this delicious looking recipe on Food Adventure Friday.
The GAPS diet is just an adjustment.With the about of fat you are allowed you can make almost anything taste good
I hope you look into more because it is very worth it!
Looks great!
thanks for stopping by!
These look fantastic! Now I’ve never had lemon bars so these would be a first for me… but they definitely look like a must-try…
Thanks for bringing them to Sugar Free Sunday!
Lemon bars are a traditional favorite in my family! hope you enjoy them as much as we do
These look like the “unhealthy” lemon bars and sound like they tasted great! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Found your site from Natasha in Oz
My picky sister LOVES these and she LOVEs her real sweets- so i guess these passed the test!
Oh, yeah. I’ve got to make that! What a great recipe. I love lemon. Just love it.
Oh good I am glad i could help!
I love it when healthy is delicious too! It’s lovely to see so many wholesome ingredients in a recipe for such a delicious treat.
Mmmm. Lemon flavored desserts are so yummy! And especially refreshing in the summer.
Yes they are very refreshing and healthy!
Healthy and delicious! These lemon bars look wonderful! Thanks for joining us for “Strut Your Stuff Saturday”. We hope you’ll be back soon! We loved having you. -The Sisters
Thanks again for stopping by!
I am definitely going to try these out! Caroline, do you have any guidelines about how much coconut flour to use to substitute for almond flour in a recipe like this? I know it won’t take much!
try making the coconut flour pizza crust as the base and just sweeten it up a little.. otherwise i will just have to make a coconut flour base
I would love it, if you would share this, & any others you may have, on my recipe link up. http://goodrecipesonline.com/organized-linkup-for-all-your-recipes-goodrecipesonline-com/.
Thanks for the invitation! I sure will
Oh, my goodness! These were AMAZING! I made them for my little sister’s 6th b’day and they were a hit! I doubled everything but the amount of flour called for, since I used coconut flour. Absolutely delish!
I am so happy that these turned out for you and your sisters birthday! Also i am very glad that you got the right amount of coconut flour to taste good–that is not always easy
Hi!
How were you able to use coconut flour? what were your measurements? I cannot have almond flour yet, but i know coconut flour is so tricky.
Thank you!
some people have successfully used this recipe of GAPPS pizza crust and just sweeten with a few TBSP of honey! http://www.mygutsy.com/gaps-pizza-crust/
Do you mind if I pin this on Pinterest?
Not at all! of course you can!
These look divine! Thanks so much for sharing
You welcome!
Made these twice and they are wonderful! Thanks for the great recipe.
Beth! I am so glad you like them! looks like I need to post some new GAPS baked goods
Thats is great! I am glad they turned out for you
[...] GAPS Lemon Bars from Gutsy- These bars have an almond flour crust with a delicious lemon filling made with organic lemons, pastured eggs and butter. What a nourishing and tasty looking treat! [...]
Caroline, I found your recipe on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and it sounds wonderful! I will have to try them soon, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading! we love these lemon bars too much!
Thank you! I was just thinking about lemon bars the other day and wondered how I could “GAPSify” them! If you don’t mind my asking, where in Minnesota are you from? I live in SW Minnesota. I think we’re the only GAPSters in these parts.
-Heather
Hi Heather! I live W of Minneapolis. There is a yahoo MN GAPS group that is so helpful! I would LOVE to meet another GAPS-ster too
If you have any requests for recipes, don’t be shy! You can also e-mail me too.
Thanks! Good luck to you!!!
I totally want to try those. My son is allergic to nuts. What other flour would you recommend trying? Maybe a GF baking mix??
[...] dessert bars, because I love anything with lemon [...]
[...] GAPS snicker doodle cookies, I shouldn’t be surprised! She was my inspiration to make the GAPS lemon bars, and those were a huge hit! It all started with a simple craving for a cookie, but we like to make [...]
very tasty….won’t last long….
HAha, they didn’t eve last 24 hours in our house!
Making these tonight! I may just double the recipe and add a bit of stevia in place of some of the honey in the filling. Do you think that would work? Thanks.
For sure! I do that with recipe too sometimes !
[...] GAPS Lemon Bars - This recipe from Gutsy looks like a delicious summer treat. [...]
I made these today and they were tasty! I will note that I was taking care of a very angry teething baby, and a upset toddler so I burned the edges (that happened quick) but the recipe is great! I did 1/4c honey and 2 squirts of stevia on the lemon part because I am trying ot limit my sugar. Delicious!
oh my gosh these look soooo good!!!!!!
Yes, and they taste as delicious as they look! thank goodness
Hi Caroline,
Truly these lemon bars exceed any others that I’ve eaten. In fact, they are in a class all by themselves.
It seems like I’m “cheating” on my diet. It is so reassuring that in addition to being over-the top scrumptious, they are nutrient dense. After I cooled them, I cut them in small squares and put them in the
freezer. My husband and I just had the last two with coffee. Mmmmm!
Thank you for your cool Gutsy Blog. I’m learning so much and I look forward to making many of your
yummy recipes. Be Well and enjoy the falling leaves.
That is really happy for me to hear! thank
no cheating with these babies. mmm freezing would be good too! thanks Shirley
[...] Lemon Bars from GUTSY – “Sweet” Category Entry # 7 [...]
Hi There Caroline,
WOW! You really impressed us this week. You have two recipes in our top 3 reader favorites from last week. Great job.
In order to be featured on AFW, however, you do need a link back directly to one of our blog hops. I’ve included my link if you want to use it.
Thanks for sharing your awesome recipes with us and for being part of the AFW community!
Be Well,
–Amber
Link: http://www.thetastyalternative.com/2012/08/allergy-free-wednesdays-week-32-august.html
Sorry about that Amber, I made these recipes a little while ago and I completely forgot. Thanks for the friendly reminder again! Yeah thats very exciting!!
Hi Caroline,
I sent you an email about the link back. I look forward to hearing from you.
[...] GAPS Lemon Bars @ My Gutsy – another one I would have picked too! [...]
[...] GAPS Lemon Bars @ Gutsy [...]
*Squeals* GAPS desserts! And LEMON BARS!? I never thought I’d have those again!
I’m not on GAPS, but I don’t eat sugar, I try to avoid grain (also being GF), and thus I don’t eat much variety in my ‘sweet stuff’. I don’t eat hardly any honey, either, so I think I’ll substitute most of the honey in this recipe with stevia. Ohhh, I am going to make this…*looks at clock*…nah, too late. Tomorrow. I’ll make this tomorrow. 
Dolly
DollyMadison.etsy.com
DollyMadisonDesigns.wordpress.com
Yes they are zoo good! that is ok to substitute, I’m all about making it work for YOU!
You must have doubled the filling for the bars pictured (?)….I made these the other day, but the lemon filling was half the thickness of the crust. So the next time I doubled the filling. The crust was soggy because of that, but still very good.
I also increased the amount of lemon juice, so that could have been the reason. We like our lemon bars LEMON bars. 
Hi Dolly,nope I just used the recipe that I posted. It could have been the type of almond flour you used, but they have turned out for me many times. If you like them really lemony, then just decrease the honey! Hopefully it works out the next time
[...] found this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Gutsy. She’s got some of the most wonderful recipes, including frog’s legs! (sorry, Caroline, [...]
[...] GAPS lemon bars [...]
These look wonderful, but i am allergic to eggs
Is there anything i can substitute for them that would work? Thank you!
For a substitute mix 1 T of ground chia or flax seeds with 3 TBSP hot water. let it cool and sit in the fridge until it gels and use as 1 egg. though flax and chia are not GAPs friendly. Ive heard you can use gelatin, buy I have never tried.
Thanks Caroline! I will try that. I’m new to all of this..are seeds not good?
well chia and flax seeds are not allowed on the GAPS diet, but some people can handle a little after a time of healing.
[...] may be some form of junk food, and eggs on the side. And coffee. What better junk food is there than lemon bars? It does take a while to make though, so I may have to snack on some almonds while I wait. I have to [...]
Does the 3 eggs include the whole egg including the egg white? Or is it just 3 egg yolks? Would really like to make these and not mess them up.
the full eggs
I made these tonight and I have less than 1/2 the pan left–with me eating most of it! Uh oh. Very good! I made these almost exactly as written, but we substituted coconut oil for the butter as we are dairy-free. They are more custard-like, very wet when done, but quite good. I only felt guilty for the calorie intake, not the ingredients as they were pretty healthy overall. I might try coconut sugar or regular sugar next time to cut down on the liquid. Definitely one to make again. Thank you!
thank you for the recipie making them for bible study, Love finding ones that accomodate so many different allergies. I added culinary lavendar. I love lavendar and lemon together perfect for spring.
I am leaning more and more towards GAPS diet. I know my daughter will probably rebel because I’ve had a hard time keeping her off HFCS and other nasties, but I think if we all try it for awhile it would be a good thing. Thanks for this recipe, it looks very yummy! I’m now following you on FB.
Hi Heather! Yes my younger sister was questioning the GAPS foods at first too, but this recipe was actually her FAVORITE! it may be better then the actual lemon bars