Limoncello & Pistachio Slice

This one’s a Daddy Bakes twist on a modern classic. It’s loosely inspired by one of the New York Times’ top five recipes, the iconic lemon bar, but of course I had to give it my own spin.

The star of the show is a lemon curd made with olive oil (weird right?), which gives it a smooth, rich texture and a more grown-up flavour. And because Daddy loves a little tipple where he can get it, I’ve added a splash of Limoncello to turn up the brightness and add a playful kick.

The curd is silky and vibrant with just the right amount of sharp citrus tang. The olive oil keeps it mellow and luscious while letting the lemon shine through. Add in the Limoncello and you’ve got something that tastes like a European holiday on a plate.

Now let’s talk about that base. A pistachio shortbread so buttery and nutty, it could be a dessert on its own. It’s crunchy yet tender, and the pistachios bring an earthy sweetness that balances the zing of the lemon topping perfectly. Honestly, you could slice it, serve it with tea, and leave it at that. But why stop when you’re already halfway to greatness?

This recipe is fresh, punchy, and just indulgent enough. Tart in all the right ways, with that little touch of Daddy flair. It’s the kind of thing you pull out for brunch, gift to someone fabulous, or keep in the fridge for your own late-night snack moment. One bite and you’ll know this isn’t your average lemon bar.

Ingredients

Base Ingredients

1 ¼ cups (155g) Plain flour
¼ cup (50g) White sugar
¼ Pistachios roughly chopped
3 tbs (25g) Icing sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
¼ tsp salt
140g cold salted butter cut into cubes

For the Curd

½ cup Lemon juice
Zest of 1 Lemon
¼ cup Limoncello
1 ½ cups Castor sugar
2 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1 ½ tsp corn flour
Pinch of salt
60g butter
½ cup fruity olive oil

Chopped pistachio for garnish

Method

Preheat your oven to 170°C (fan forced).
To make the base, in a bowl combine flour, sugar, icing sugar, lemon zest, salt & chopped pistachios, whisk to combine. Add your cold cubed butter and using your finger tips rub the butter into the dry mix until all large pieces of butter are gone (it should resemble a moist sand like, crumbly consistency).
Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking paper, allowing excess to hang over 2 sides (to be used as handles to lift the slice out of the tin). Press the base mixture into the tin, cover with a piece of baking paper and lightly push down with the base of a glass to make the base surface flat. Bake for 20-25mins until golden.
For the curd, in a saucepan whisk together lemon juice, sugar, limoncello, eggs, egg yolks, corn flour & salt.
Over medium heat whisk curd ingredients until mixture comes to a soft boil and thickens (around 2 mins) then immediately remove from heat, continuing to whisk.
Strain mixture into a heat proof bowl and whisk in olive oil, butter and lemon zest.
When the base is ready remove from the oven and pour the curd mixture over the base. Return the slice to the oven and bake for 10-15mins more (the curd should be set with a light jiggle).
Remove from the oven, allow to cool then pop it in the fridge over night to set.
To serve, remove the slice from the tin (using the baking paper as handles). Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and slice into squares.

Notes:

If you want to keep it kids friendly, you can omit the limoncello, just substitute this with lemon juice.
If your not a nut fan, you can omit the pistachios.
Dont skip letting your slice set in the fridge overnight, otherwise you will have a stick, fall apart disaster.
You can blitz your base ingredients in a food processer to make it quicker, but the rubbing in method is less clean up and honestly doesn’t take much longer.
Store your slice in the fridge to stop it from loosing its shape.
You could sub the lemons for limes, and the limoncello for cointreau to make a margarita slice.