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Lemon Bars

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Lemon Bars – a buttery shortbread crust with a creamy lemon filling.  Top with powdered sugar for a sweet, tart, and delicious treat! 

I love lemon desserts.  It can be something that is no bake and super creamy like Lemon Lasagna Dessert. Or it can be cookies.  I am an equal opportunity lemon dessert person.  Lemon Crinkle Cookies are so good and so easy to make.

I did not grow up with lemon dessert recipes.  In my family it was chocolate on chocolate all the time.  Homemade Brownies were a staple every weekend. My dad is a completely choco-aholic, so that was pretty much all we had.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved it.  But now that I can make my own desserts, it is nice to switch it up sometimes.  And Lemon Bars are one of my favorite ways to mix it up.

Lemon Bars - a buttery shortbread crust with a creamy lemon filling.  Top with powdered sugar for a sweet, tart, and delicious treat! 

I think this may have been the first lemon bar recipe that I have ever made.  I made Lemonade Pie a couple years ago, but this is the first real bar that I tried.  They are sweet, tangy, tart, and just plain good!  My husband is not a fan of chocolate, so he loves it when I mix up what I am making.

I love this easy lemon bar recipe because it just takes a couple steps and a few ingredients to make.  The crust is like a shortbread cookie crust.  It is sweet, buttery, flaky, and delicious!  It is perfect for the tart lemon filling.

Lemon Bars - a buttery shortbread crust with a creamy lemon filling.  Top with powdered sugar for a sweet, tart, and delicious treat! 

When you are making this lemon bar recipe it is best to use fresh lemon juice.  It is just so much better than the bottled stuff.  It can take awhile to squeeze 1/2 cup of lemon juice, but trust me, it is so worth it!  My mom made this recipe for lemon bars with lemons from her tree and it was even better.  There is just something about fresh lemons.

Strawberry lemonade bars are pretty much the exact same recipe with fresh strawberries mixed in.  So not quite as tart, and sweet from the strawberries.  So if you want to get the pretty pink color and mix it up, that is a fun twist you can put on lemon bars.

Creamy Lemon Bars with a Shortbread Crust | Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts

I love these easy lemon bars, because they come together quickly without a ton of work, and everyone loves them!  Once they cool dust them with a little powdered sugar. It helps make them pretty, because when they bake the filling gets a little bubbly on top.

I don’t like to store lemon bars in the fridge, because it just soaks in the powdered sugar and leave a layer of moisture on top of the bars. So I just store them covered at room temperature.  And if you need to dust with more powdered sugar to serve them later, not a big deal!

Lemon Bars - a buttery shortbread crust with a creamy lemon filling.  Top with powdered sugar for a sweet, tart, and delicious treat!

5 from 9 votes
Lemon Bars
Print
Lemon Bars
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
50 mins
Total Time
1 hr
 

Lemon Bars - a buttery shortbread crust with a creamy lemon filling.  Top with powdered sugar for a sweet, tart, and delicious treat! .

Course: Dessert
Keyword: lemon bars
Servings: 20
Calories: 214 kcal
Ingredients
Base
  • 2 cups flour , sifted
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup butter , cut into cubs
Lemon Layer
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
Powdered sugar for dusting
    Instructions
    1. Preheat oven to 350 degree. Spray a 13x9 inch pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
    2. In a large bowl combine flour, powdered sugar, and butter. Using your hands, mix until it comes together as a dough. Press into the prepared baking dish.
    3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven.
    4. Meanwhile in an electric mixer bowl mix together sugar, eggs, and lemon juice. Mix on medium speed for 4-5 minutes; until light, fluffy, and the sugar is completely dissolved. Add flour and baking powder, and mix until well incorporated.
    5. Pour over the baked crust. Return to the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes.
    6. Remove from the oven, and cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar, and serving.
    Recipe Notes

    If you want the bars to be a little more tart add 1 tsp of lemon zestbr]
    Adapted from [Food.com

    Nutrition Facts
    Lemon Bars
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 214 Calories from Fat 90
    % Daily Value*
    Total Fat 10g 15%
    Saturated Fat 6g 30%
    Cholesterol 57mg 19%
    Sodium 94mg 4%
    Potassium 40mg 1%
    Total Carbohydrates 28g 9%
    Sugars 17g
    Protein 2g 4%
    Vitamin A 6.6%
    Calcium 1.5%
    Iron 4.5%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

     

     

    Filed Under: Bar Recipes, Dessert Recipes, Fruity Dessert Recipes Tagged With: , ,

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. YES! to going outside without a jacket. We in the Pacific NW actually have had days like that. But I am GREEDY. What a perfect ‘sunny’ recipe to post to bring out our inner
      sunshine and warmth. Good choice. Smiles——

      Reply

    2. Lemons are such fresh, friendly fruits. They make me want to open the windows wide and let the blue checked curtains that I do not own blow in the breeze. Your lemon bars scream Spring. Now, if only the weather will cooperate 🙂

      Reply

    4. The recipe for this is very much like traditional British Lemon meringue pie. The exceptions are it’s a whole pie and you also add some lemon zest for an extra lemony zing into the filling, then top the pie with meringue and bake. A great favourite in the UK.

      Reply

    5. I once used a mixer to mix the layer’s ingredients. Unfortunately it got bubbles and had a foam layer on top. The bars tasted just fine but the appearance was… not that great, since the white foam covered the golden yellow of the lemon 🙁

      Reply

      • Part of that might be the time you mixed it. You need to make sure to mix for a long time, to have the sugar fully dissolve. An easy way to fix those bubbles, it to just dust with powdered sugar – no one will know the difference 🙂

        Reply

    8. Oh Erin I’m with you – I can’t wait for the warmer weather – your lovely lemon bars certainly spread a little sunshine – simply delicious
      Mary

      Reply


    16. There is nothing better than a nice tart lemon dessert at the end of a great summer meal. The more tart, the better!

      Reply

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