I love a tangy lemon dessert, and this lemon bars recipe definitely delivers! The soft lemon layer is packed with flavor and complimented perfectly by the pastry base.
Unfortunately for me, lemons are a personal favorite and not as popular with the rest of the household. So, to get away with making a bunch of lemon desserts I usually have to plan on sharing outside of home...and I'm OK with that!
To get started on your lemon bars you will need the basics: flour, sugar, salt, butter, eggs and powdered sugar plus 4 large lemons to zest and then juice. We'll also start out by preheating our oven and buttering up a 9 x 13 baking pan, since we'll need these ready to go. The crust layer doesn't take long to put together, so this is definitely a dessert that can be whipped up quickly when you don't have much kitchen time (but it will need to refrigerate for a few hours, so remember that and plan accordingly).
To Make Your Lemon Bars...
We'll start with making the crust up first, then we can make the lemon filling while the crust bakes. For the crust stir sugar, flour and salt together. Blend in the salted butter with a pastry cutter until the flour and butter mixture has the appearance of small crumbs. Your pastry dough will still be very crumbly when you add it to your baking dish.
Transfer crumbly pastry dough to your baking pan and press the dough down over the bottom of the baking dish, making a smooth and relatively even layer. Place into preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until slightly golden around the edges and the dough is fully cooked.
While the dough layer is baking we can now make the lemon filling. We'll start by combining the two dry ingredients, sugar and flour, then add eggs (I prefer to have these already beaten). Whisk to combine eggs and dry ingredients. Add the lemon juice and zest next, and stir until thoroughly combined. Pour the lemon filling into the baking pan over the baked pastry dough layer. Return to the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the lemon layer is no longer 'jiggly' but still soft.
Once cooled to room temperature, you can transfer the baked lemon bars to the refrigerator where they will need to cool for at least two hours. Sift powdered sugar over your lemon bars before cutting into squares and removing from pan. You can use additional powdered sugar when serving, if desired. Enjoy!
You Might Also Like These Lemon Dessert Recipes...
- Strawberry Pineapple Lemonade Bars
- Lemon Blueberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Lemon Butter Button Cookies - Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Lemon Strawberry Bread with Lemon Zest Icing
📖 Recipe Card
Lemon Bars Recipe
Ingredients
Pastry Crust Ingredients
- 2 c (240 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ c (113 g) sugar
- ¼ tsp (1.4 g) salt
- 1 c (226 g) butter (salted, cubed)
Lemon Filling Ingredients
- 1 ½ c (338 g) sugar
- ¼ c (30 g) all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs (beaten)
- 4 lemons (large, zest each and juice them all)
- confectioners sugar (sifted onto finished lemon bars)
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
Pastry Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and butter a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Stir together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar and salt. Add the cubed butter and mix into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, until the dough has a crumbly appearance. Transfer pastry dough to baking dish and press evenly across all of the bottom of the pan. Bake for 20 minutes until the edges are slightly golden and the pastry dough is fully cooked.
Lemon Filling
- Combine the dry ingredients: sugar and flour. Add beaten eggs and whisk to combine with dry ingredients. Stir in lemon juice and zest until fully combined then transfer to baking dish. Pour lemon filling over the top of the baked pastry dough layer.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the lemon filling layer is set, and no longer 'jiggles'. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least two hours before topping with sifted confectioners sugar and cutting into squares for serving.
Nutrition
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