Lemon Bar Recipe

My all-time favorite desserts are the ones with lemon in them. Lemon dessert recipes are tart, and I love that they are not overly sweet. The lemon curd on top of these bars is amazingly delicious and easy to make.

It requires no cooking, just a bit of mixing. The crust is made simply by mixing flour, powdered sugar, and melted butter, and then press this mixture with your fingers into the baking dish, so they are very simple to make.

I guarantee these will be your favorite among all the lemon bar recipes you can find.

How To Make Lemon Bars?

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. We start by making the crust. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour and powdered sugar. Pour in the melted butter and vanilla extract and pinch of salt, and mix just until combined and crumbly.
2. Press this mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch greased casserole dish using your fingers. Smooth it out as much as possible.
3. Bake the crust for 15 minutes.
4. While the crust is baking, we’ll make the curd. Whisk the eggs until smooth and add the white sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt and stir to combine using a rubber spatula.
5. Mix in the lemon juice and lemon zest.
6. Take the crust out of the oven and immediately pour the curd over it. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until set and it no longer jiggles in the middle.
7. Let it cool completely and slice it into squares. Dust them with powdered sugar and serve.

Make-Ahead Method?

These bars are even better when baked the day before. It will be easier to cut them if they are cold. Just be sure to cover the baking dish with plastic wrap, so they don’t dry out.

Cooking Tips

1. Cover them loosely with foil if you feel your lemon bars are starting to brown on top.
2. Let them cool completely for at least one hour, and then refrigerate them for another hour or two before cutting them.
3. Do not overcook them if they are a tiny bit jiggly in the middle. Not too much, but a bit is fine. They will set once they cool down. 
4. Use a very sharp knife to cut them and moisten them with water every so often.

if like me, you love lemon-based desserts, you will love these: The BEST Lemon Brownies with Glaze, which have an amazing brownie texture, Mini Lemon Drop Cakes are sweet and tart, and Creamy Lemon Squares which are just that: very creamy and delicious.