Blackberry Lemon Bars

       I have a dear friend who has a tree that is loaded with lemons and she lets me grab some whenever I need a couple.  This past week, blackberries were on sale again and I picked up quite a few.  As you know, I love the combination of blackberries and lemons. In the past,  I came up with a Blackberry-Lemon Marmalade that is so delicious that if you haven't tried it, you should.  This time I came up with the idea of putting together lemons and blackberries into a twist on the traditional lemon bar.  As you can see, they came out so lovely with a tart sweetness that everyone enjoyed.  The color would make them a pretty Valentine's Day treat as well! Here is the recipe! 

Blackberry Lemon Bars

        A couple of Fridays ago, I shared on Friday Faves that I love my new zester!  I still do! (Here is one like it.)  I also love this new  little juicer that I got from a Princess House Party recently.  It allows you to measure the juice as you juice it.  Also, the reamer is removable, so it is very easy to clean.

       I couldn't find it on Amazon, but there are similar ones here and here. This type of juicer comes in handy when you only have a couple of lemons to juice and you don't want to pull out the electric juicer.  If I don't need to measure, I use the citrus squeezer, but this kind with the reamer is great when you need to measure a specific amount of juice.
      This recipe calls for the juice of 1 lemon.  But, since lemon sizes vary so much, (these were huge!), you should measure.  This recipe needs about 5 T. of lemon juice, along with the juice of the blackberries. When you mash the berries through the sieve, be sure to reserve some for the garnish.  That means you will only mash about 2/3 of the container. When the pan came out of the oven and after it had cooled a bit, I sprinkled on confectioners sugar, a little more zest and added some blackberries.

I love the pretty pink color of the filling!

These were so good and easy to make.  A good use of lemons if you are experiencing an over abundance! Hope you try them and enjoy!