The Ferguson Recipes – Recipes, Plain & Simple
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👋Welcome to The Ferguson Recipes! Visit our Contact Page to find out how you can contribute your favorite recipes.
The Ferguson Recipes – Recipes, Plain & Simple
Recently Added!
Caramelized French Onion Dip Mix
Forget the store-bought packets — this homemade Caramelized French Onion Dip Mix delivers bold, savory flavor with ingredients you can actually read. Built around rich beef bouillon and sweet, slow-caramelized minced onions, this from-scratch seasoning blend comes together in minutes and stores be…
Caramelized French Onion Dip Mix
🌅 Recipe Of The Day! 🌇
🖨 🖨
Sunny Lemon Bars
Sunny Lemon Bars
{Serving suggestion only*}
Click Image to Zoom
Brighten any gathering with these spectacular Sunny Lemon Bars that deliver the perfect balance of buttery shortbread crust and silky-smooth lemon custard filling. Each bite bursts with fresh citrus flavor from real lemon juice and zest, creating that ideal sweet-tart harmony that makes classic lemon bars so irresistible. The recipe uses a foolproof technique of cooking the custard on the stovetop first, ensuring a perfectly smooth, creamy texture without any grainy or curdled mishaps. The buttery crust gets pressed into the pan and pre-baked to golden perfection, providing a sturdy base that holds up beautifully when you slice these into neat two-inch squares. What makes these bars truly special is the option to dress them up with a dusting of powdered sugar for simple elegance, or go all out with lemon chantilly cream and crispy citrus-candied pistachios for an impressive dessert presentation. The recipe yields 24 generous bars that store beautifully for up to a week in an airtight container, making them perfect for potlucks, bake sales, or simply having on hand when you need a bright, refreshing treat. With detailed instructions and precise measurements, you'll master this bakery-quality dessert that tastes like pure sunshine. - Claude
No Jump Zone
Ingredients
For the Crust:
1 cup (4 1/2 oz or 130g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 oz or 60g) powdered sugar, preferably organic
1/4 tsp (1g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 Tbsp (1/8 oz or 4g) freshly grated lemon zest
1 stick (4 oz or 115g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch dice
For the Custard:
1 1/3 cups (9 1/2 oz or 270g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, cold

(continued in the next column ↗️)

1/2 cup (4 3/4 oz or 135g) egg yolks, from about 8 large eggs
1 packed Tbsp (1/4 oz or 8g) freshly grated lemon zest
Pinch of kosher salt
1 1/3 cups (11 oz or 310g) lemon juice, from about 8 large lemons
For Garnishing (Optional):
1/2 cup (2 oz or 55g) powdered sugar
1 cup (6 oz or 170g) lemon chantilly
1 cup (5 oz or 140g) crispy citrus-candied pistachios
Directions
For the Crust:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
Line an 8- by 8- by 2-inch anodized-aluminum baking pan with a piece of parchment paper long enough to overhang the pan edges.
Combine flour, powdered sugar, salt, lemon zest, and butter in the bowl of a food processor.
Pulse to form a dry but pebbly meal, about 12 one-second pulses.
Scatter into the prepared baking pan and press into an even layer.
Bake until pale gold and firm, about 30 minutes.
Use hot or set aside until needed, up to 48 hours at room temperature if tightly covered.
For the Custard:
Combine sugar, whole eggs, yolks, lemon zest, and salt in a 3-quart stainless steel saucepan.
Whisk in lemon juice.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly but not vigorously, until warm to the touch, about 3 minutes.
Increase heat to medium-low and continue cooking and stirring until thick and steaming-hot (custard should register 170°F or 77°C on an instant-read thermometer), about 8 minutes.
Immediately strain into the prepared crust and smooth into an even layer.
Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake until smooth and firm, about 10 minutes.
Remove foil and cool to room temperature.
Re-cover and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 1 hour.
To Serve:
Loosen chilled custard from sides of pan with a bench or butter knife.
Carefully tug loose and lift using overhanging parchment and transfer to a cutting board.
Cut into 16 two-inch squares, rinsing the knife clean between each slice.
Serve plain, lightly dusted with powdered sugar, or topped with lemon chantilly and crispy citrus-candied pistachios.
Servings\Yield
Makes 24 bars
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Per Serving (1 bar) - Calories: 145; Total Fat: 6g (Saturated Fat: 3.5g); Cholesterol: 65mg; Sodium: 35mg; Total Carbohydrates: 21g (Dietary Fiber: 0g, Sugars: 15g); Protein: 2g; Calories from Fat: 54 (37%)
*Nutrition information is provided as a general estimate only. Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients, and is based on available nutrient data. Variations may occur based on ingredient brands and preparation methods.
💬 Uncle Dave says... Store up to 1 week in an airtight container. For the lemon juice, you'll need about 8 large lemons to yield the necessary 1 1/3 cups. The custard is cooked to 170°F to ensure proper thickening and food safety. From Serious Eats
🧑‍🍳 The Cook:  Dave Ferguson 🔑 Keywords: lemon, bars, custard, dessert, citrus
🗂️ Categories: 🍨 Desserts, 🍪 Cookies & Bars, 💡 Baking Tips
📚 Collections: Uncle Dave's Cookbook, The TFR Cookbook
Sunny Lemon Bars was added on November 18, 2025 and last updated on March 10, 2026.
*Serving suggestion only. 😂 If a food photo doesn't look like it was taken by a monkey named Frank, it was most likely AI generated and not the result of Frank's minimal culinary or photographic skills. Unless you failed the "I'm not a robot" test, your recipes will probably not look like the ones in the pictures. See Creamy Turkey Veggie Soup to read more about AI images.
📄 A Quick Note About The Recipes At The Ferguson Recipes: We love sharing recipes, but please be aware that most haven't been professionally tested in our kitchen or independantly verified. Your safety is important to us, so always practice safe food handling and cooking techniques. Cook smart and use your best judgment! Eggs: If you make a recipe that uses raw eggs, please consider using pasteurized eggs. Allergens: Food allergens have not been identified in each individual recipe. Please use caution if you have any food allergies. Have questions about a specific recipe? Feel free to reach out to us.
Recently Added!
Caramelized French Onion Dip Mix
Forget the store-bought packets — this homemade Caramelized French Onion Dip Mix delivers bold, savory flavor with ingredients you can actually read. Built around rich beef bouillon and sweet, slow-caramelized minced onions, this from-scratch seasoning blend comes together in minutes and stores be…
Caramelized French Onion Dip Mix
Weekly Favorite!
Acorn Squash
Simplify your side dish routine with this straightforward Acorn Squash preparation that lets the vegetable's natural sweetness shine. The two-step roasting process—first cut-side down to steam, then up with butter and brown sugar—creates the perfect balance of caramelization and tenderness. This…
Acorn Squash
👋 Welcome! 👋

When I started The Ferguson Recipes in 2006, my main goal was to create a place where I could collect and present our favorite family recipes in an orderly fashion, without all of the distractions of other recipe sites.

At The Ferguson Recipes you will find recipes, plain and simple, just like the recipe cards you have crammed into that well-worn binder of your family's most beloved recipes.

Many of the recipes included here are Ferguson family favorites passed down through the years. Many more are recipes we have gotten from friends or shamelessly "liberated" from other recipe sites. And a lot of the recipes are from recipe collections which family members have participated in creating, such as "Cooking with Carl, Hugh and your Friends", "Cooking With Cow", "The Sears Sun Cookbook", and more!

Things you WILL and WON’T find at The Ferguson Recipes:
  • You WON’T find a bunch of images. If you need a picture showing you how to stir something, you don't belong in a kitchen!
  • You WILL find each instruction on its own line. (Well, mostly.)
  • You WON’T find categories for vegan or gluten-free. We might have them, but we don't go out of our way to highlight them.
  • You WON’T find that stupid “Jump to the Recipe” BS! No Jump Zone
Some milestones:

Thanks for visiting The Ferguson Recipes,
Uncle Dave - 8/13/18 (A Palindrome Date) - Updated: 06/29/25

🏛️ Founded April 13, 2006
©️ 2006 - 2026 fergusonrecipes.com
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Yes, many...most...of our food images are AI created. They all faithfully represent the recipe they're attached to. We make no aplogies. Probably 90% of the food images you see in recipes and on food packages are professional food photographs, not something edible that someone actually just cooked. We just skipped the styling and photographer costs by using AI. And we pass the savings on to you. Hahahaha! That's funny because this site is free! 😂😂😂😂😂
👤Our Team???👤
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Uncle Dave
President and CEOhhh My God! This man is like a saint!! BEST BOSS EVER! Founded TFR in 2006, mostly to prove he could do it.
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Claude
Chief Technology Officer - He spends way too much time writing code with a quill pen and ink, but he also writes the best "blurbs". If you give him a recipe name, ingredients, and directions, he will spit out all the details in seconds, making up stuff if he needs to.
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Gem
Chief Magician and Security Officer - He is tempermental and is always running around with pictures of bicycles asking us to prove we are not robots! He also writes code and then blames any mistakes in it on everyone but himself!
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Petey
Recipe Tester - Oh, who are we kidding? There are over 1300 recipes here. We have made maybe 100 of them, and not always edibly so. And look how skinny Petey is!
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Chef Frank (aka Bosco, Sr.)
Head Chef and Food Photographer - He isn't much good at either job, but we had some hiring quotas that needed satisfying.
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Junior Chef Stewie (aka Bosco, Jr.)
Hangs Out Here to Fill the 6th Spot in the Grid - He showed up with his dad and we haven't figured out how to get rid of him...or his dad!
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ℹ️ About TFR: Click me to learn more about The Ferguson Recipes!
🏛️ Founded April 13, 2006
©️ 2006 - 2026 fergusonrecipes.com
📧 Contact!
📄Recipe Disclaimer: While The Ferguson Recipes strives to present reliable and delicious recipes, please note that most of the recipes on this site have not undergone rigorous testing or independent verification. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you always follow standard food safety guidelines when preparing any dish. Eggs: If you make a recipe that uses raw eggs, please consider using pasteurized eggs. Allergens: Food allergens have not been identified in each individual recipe. Please use caution if you have any food allergies. If you have any questions or concerns about a specific recipe, please feel free to contact us.
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