I personally love a tangy lemon dessert, and these lemon bars are sure to hit the spot! They're made with a buttery shortbread crust and a sweet lemon filling and dusted with powdered sugar.
This recipe for lemon bars is simple yet flavorful and requires only a few ingredients. They can be served cold or at room temperature, making a perfect dessert for all occasions.
How to Make Lemon Bars
Note: The full instructions are provided in the recipe card below.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and line it with parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches of excess on either side to help unmold the bars later.
Place the flour, cornstarch, salt, and powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade attachment and pulse a few times to combine.
Add the butter and vanilla and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, about 10 to 15 seconds.
Sprinkle the crust mixture into the prepared baking dish and carefully press into an even layer with your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup, building up a thin ¾-inch edge around the sides (this will help keep the filling from spilling beneath the crust).
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze for 15 minutes. Bake the crust until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, and flour until well combined and no lumps of flour remain.
Give the lemon mixture a quick stir, and then pour the filling into the cooled crust. Gently transfer to the oven and bake until the center of the custard sets about 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 2 hours before slicing and serving. To serve, use the parchment paper overhang to transfer the baked lemon bar onto a cutting board and carefully loosen the parchment from the edges of the crust
. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares or triangles. Dust with powdered sugar using a fine sieve.
Related Recipes
Recipe
Easy Lemon Bars
Tools
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 134 g 1-¾ cup all-purpose flour , spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 31 g ¼ cup cornstarch
- ⅛ g teaspoon salt
- 130 g 1 cup Confectioners' sugar , plus more to decorate finished bars
- 2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Lemon Filling:
- 6 large eggs , room temperature
- 400 g 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (be sure to zest the lemons before juicing)
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice , from 5 to 6 lemons
- 83 g ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or the scrapings of a vanilla bean
Instructions
- For the Crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches of excess on either side to help unmold the bars later.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade attachment, place the flour, corn starch, salt, and powdered sugar and pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and vanilla and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, about 10 to 15 seconds.
- Sprinkle the crust mixture into the prepared baking dish and carefully press into an even layer with your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup, building up a thin ¾-inch edge around the sides (this will help keep the filling from spilling beneath the crust). Refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze for 15 minutes. Bake the crust until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.
- For the Filling: In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, and flour until well combined and no lumps of flour remain.
- Give the lemon mixture a quick stir, and then pour the filling into the cooled crust. Gently transfer to the oven and bake until the center of the custard sets, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 2 hours before slicing and serving.
- To serve, use the parchment paper overhang to transfer the baked lemon bar onto a cutting board and carefully loosen the parchment from the edges of the crust. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares. Dust with powdered sugar using a fine sieve.
Notes
- If you don't have a food processor, you can also do it by hand or fork in a large bowl and work together with the flour, vanilla, butter, and confectioners' sugar until a smooth dough forms, being careful not to overwork the dough.
- Other citrus juices, such as orange, grapefruit, or lime juice, can also be used instead of lemon juice to make other flavors.
- Use almond flour instead of cornstarch to make Almond Shortbread Crust.
- Cornstarch can be substituted with all-purpose flour.
- It is important not to peel the white pith when zesting the lemon because that part of it is bitter. The zest is the outermost layer of the lemon and is where the essential oils are located, so it is best to use this part of the fruit. To get the most flavor from a lemon, use a Microplane zester. This tool allows you to zest the fruit without getting any of the pith finely.
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.