Lemon Bar Recipes

Stamford woman who can't eat gluten starts business with husband making gluten ...

STAMFORD, Conn. — Westover Magnet Elementary Teacher Brian Hayes never thought he would be spending his summer beneath a white pop tent in the Stamford Museum & Nature Center's parking lot, selling gluten-free desserts. But that's exactly what he was doing Friday.

"I've always had an entrepreneurial mentality, but I never thought it would be in food. If you asked me to bake something, I'd say, 'Try my Pop Tarts. They're delicious,'" he said with a grin, as he stood next to his wife, Marissa, 28. "I just have this big-picture mentality."

It's been about a year since the young couple came up with the idea to launch Dream Desserts, their line of dessert bars, which cater to people with Celiac Disease.

"Marissa was diagnosed with Celiac about three years ago," Brian explained Friday. The condition, which prohibits those affected from consuming gluten, forced Marissa to change her diet, eliminating products such as wheat, flour and pasta. The food options on the market were boring, and lacked a homemade texture and taste, Marissa said.

"For desserts, it was kind of a bust. Then one night, her mother made these lemon bars, and I was, like, shoveling them down," Brian said. "When her mother told me they were gluten-free, I couldn't believe it. They were just so good."

That's when the wheels started turning.

By October, Brian, 28, and Marissa had started their business, which featured recipes created by Marissa's mother. Dream Desserts currently offers four flavors: peanut butter chocolate; pecan clasique; banana nuvo; and luscious lemon, the one that started everything. They're all made using all-natural ingredients, Marissa said.

"We even discovered that the sweetened coconut milk we originally used in the lemon bar had preservatives in it, so we changed the recipe," Marissa noted.

"We've really researched out ingredients."

Taste testing was an important element, Brian said.

"The teachers at Westover were basically my taste-testing panel," he said. "I wouldn't have been able to do this without them."

Business is already booming. A handful of local stores offered shelf space for the desserts and Brian and Marissa participate in several farmers' markets throughout the county, in addition to Friday's at the museum.

"The Saturday market in New Canaan is extremely busy," Brian said. "We sell about 100 bars there sometimes."

They recently sold their 1,000th bar. But while the following for Dream Desserts is already greater than either Hayes expected it would be, they plan to keep it small to make it possible to fit into their schedules, which revolve around the school year, and caring for their 15-month-old son, Collin.

Honey Lemon Bars with The Bee's Knees Peanut Butter Crust « Peanut ...

The combination of lemon and peanut butter isn’t necessarily the first thing people think of in terms of flavor combinations. Sure there’s the banana and peanut butter combo that Elvis made famous, chocolate and peanut butter combo that Reese’s made into a treat and the grape jelly and peanut butter combo that every school kid loves, but lemon and peanut butter isn’t an automatic combo. That’s sad, because the tart bright flavor of lemon really pops against the earthy salty sweet peanut butter.

In the end, I brought a batch of these bars to a party down in Los Angeles that I was helping to host, and my friend Sara had taken a bar while I was preoccupied with hosting duties. As I mixed and mingled amongst my friends, Sara cornered me and told me in no uncertain terms that “These. Bars. Are. The. Best. Thing. Ever.” And yes she said it with periods between each word.

The secret with the bar is the honey. The sticky floral sweetness is the link between the lemon and the peanut butter. The Bee’s Knees has the honey already mixed into it, so all you need to do is add a little extra honey to the lemon curd and you’ve got a lemon bar that has people using superlative words. They’re that good.

I like to serve the lemon bars from the refrigerator, cold and refreshing like a glass of lemonade on a hot day. That said, they’re equally fantastic at room temperature, a little more gooey, a little sweeter (the cold cuts the sweetness), and perfect with an evening cup of tea or coffee.

Makes 12 bars ¼ teaspoon of salt