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Lemon bars

June 24, 2014 by Roxana 21 Comments

So light and refreshing, these lemon bars make a great dessert all summer long or anytime you crave a buttery cookie crust topped with a luscious lemon cream filling So light and refreshing, these lemon bars make a great dessert all summer long or anytime you crave a buttery cookie crust topped with a luscious lemon cream filling

I’ve never been a lemon bars kind of girl. A look at my recipe index and you can easily guess I’m the girl who reaches for the chocolate treats first.

Of course there are some citrus desserts like this lemon curd tart or meyer lemon tart and let’s not forget about this lime tart but it wasn’t until recently  that lemon bars landed on my to-bake list. I was skeptical at first, secretly I was mostly praying they don’t turn out that good so I can mix a batch of brownies but to my surprise they turned out amazing!

The buttery cookie crust topped with a tangy lemon filling brighten my day a few weeks ago. You’ll have to excuse the rushed photos, all I could think of was eating another one of these irresistible bars. Lemon bars recipe from Roxanashomebaking.com

Making these bars is a little work, I’m not going to lie.

You start with the buttery cookie dough. As you can easily guess you’ll need butter, lot of butter, flour, sugar and an egg yolk. The same ingredients to make shortbread. But unlike shortbread where you mix the ingredients in a food processor, this time you cream the butter with the sugar, mix in the egg yolk and fold in the flour.

The dough will be soft and a little sticky, but don’t worry. With your fingers or the back of a spoon, press the dough in an even layer on a bottom on a baking pan. Refrigerate.

While the dough is chilling, it’s time to make and bake the crumble. Lemon bars recipe

The crumble is a mixture of butter, sugar, honey and flour. Pulse a few times in the food processor until it resembles pea-size crumbles and spread them on a cookie sheet. Bake for few minutes.

The crumble will spread turning into a ginormous thin cookie but don’t worry. Once baked and cooled, you’ll be able to crumble it.

For the melon creme filling, please use fresh lemons. No lemon juice from a bottle or juice squeezed few days ago. The fresher the better. You want bars bursting with lemon flavor, don’t you?

The lemon filling is a little tricky. Well, not really, it’s just you need a candy thermometer. And I highly suggest you use it and not guess the temperature. Aside for fresh lemons you’ll also need eggs, sugar, butter and gelatin.

For best results you have to follow the recipe directions. They sound intimidating but if you read the entire recipe before you start you will know what step comes next.

Lemon bars recipe

Yields 24 bars

So light and refreshing, these lemon bars make a great dessert all summer long or anytime you crave a buttery cookie crust topped with a luscious lemon cream filling

30 minPrep Time

1 hrCook Time

6 hrTotal Time

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Ingredients

    Cookie crust
  • 3/4 cup (170 grams) butter
  • 1/3 cup (67 grams) sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour
  • Crumble
  • 3 tablespoons (42 grams) butter
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons (30 grams) sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup (60 grams) all-purpose flour
  • Lemon filling
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons Knox unflavored gelatine
  • 4 teaspoons water
  • 3 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest (1/2 lemon)
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons) (65 ml)
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened to room temp (255 grams)

Instructions

    Cookie base dough
  1. Line bottom and sides of a 13X9" baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. Add butter, sugar and salt to mixing bowl. With the paddle attachment on, cream on low speed until light and fluffy, scraping bowl and paddle attachment as needed.
  3. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
  4. Gently add the flour and mix on low speed until combined.
  5. With your fingers, press dough evenly into a layer on the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Refrigerate 1 hour.
  6. While dough is chilling, make the crumble.
  7. Crumble
  8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  9. Add butter and sugar to food processor. Pulse a few seconds until creamed.
  10. Add honey, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
  11. Add the flour and pulse until pea-size crumbles form. Spread evenly on separate baking sheet. Bake 8-10 min or until brown. Let cool completely and break apart.
  12. With a fork, prick chilled base dough. Bake 30-35 min or until light brown in color. Set aside to cool.
  13. Lemon filling:
  14. Sprinkle gelatine over water in small bowl. Set aside.
  15. Stir together eggs, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice on top of a double boiler, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Heat to 170 degrees on medium, stirring occasionally, about 8 min.
  16. Stir in softened gelatine. Remove pan from stovetop and let mixture cool to 130 degrees.
  17. Place lemon mixture into a food processor. Add butter and pulse a few times until combined. Pour lemon mixture over cookie base and sprinkle crumble evenly on top.
  18. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours.
  19. Transfer to cutting surface using the hanging parchment paper as handles and cut into 24 pieces.

Notes

recipe from Wegmans.com

7.6.8
532
http://atreatsaffair.com/lemon-bars-recipe/
Roxana Yawgel http://atreatsaffair.com/ All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

If you enjoyed these lemon bars, you may also like

Citrus cranberry cake

Citrus Cranberry Layered Cake Recipe Roxanashomebaking 2

Meyer lemon tart

meyer lemon tart recipe 1

Lemon cheesecake bars

lemon cheesecake bars recipe 1

Happy baking,

Roxana

Related Posts:

  • Peanut butter and chocolate chip bars
  • Chocolate chip cookie chewy caramel apple bars
  • Homemade snickers bars

Filed Under: Cookies and Bars, Recipe Tagged With: bars, gelatine, honey, lemon, lemon juice

About Roxana

Roxana has a passion for all things food, a sweet tooth that can’t be tamed and a severe case of the wanderlust
With an audience in search for real food and no fuss recipes, I make midweek meals exciting sharing approachable recipes, both sweet and savory, that taste completely sinful.

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Comments

  1. Sarah Gifford says

    June 24, 2014 at 9:56 pm

    This recipe sounds absolutely amazing! I will have to try it. I personally like a slight nut flavor mixed with my citrus. I think I will add a dash of almond extract.
    Reply
  2. Betty says

    June 24, 2014 at 11:07 pm

    I love a good lemon bar, especially in the summertime! These look really good- the filling sounds delectable! :)
    Reply
  3. Chloe @ foodlikecake says

    June 25, 2014 at 6:41 am

    These bars are so pretty!
    Reply
  4. Liz says

    June 25, 2014 at 9:31 am

    Nice recipe. Thank you Roxanna. Happy Day to ya!
    Reply
  5. Jenn @ Deliciously Sprinkled says

    June 25, 2014 at 9:14 pm

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE anything lemon, I am kinda lemon crazy! AND these lemon bars are perfection, I need to make them ASAP! Pinned :)
    Reply
  6. Emily @ Life on Food says

    June 26, 2014 at 6:47 am

    Thick layers. Beautiful color. Lovely as always!
    Reply
  7. Doree says

    June 26, 2014 at 9:37 am

    These look devine! Thanks for sharing at our Cook it! Craft it! Share it! Link Party. Hope to see you next week :) -Doree
    Reply
  8. Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says

    June 26, 2014 at 11:14 am

    These bars are amazing! I love the sweet and sunny look of them!
    Reply
  9. Amy | Club Narwhal says

    June 26, 2014 at 12:26 pm

    Roxana, these are gorgeous! We've made lemon bars from scratch before and you are right--they do take a bit of work (but they are so worth it)!
    Reply
  10. Danae | Recipe Runner says

    June 26, 2014 at 10:56 pm

    Lemon bars are one of my favorite kinds of bars. I love the thick cookie crust and crumbly topping on these, yum!! Pinned!
    Reply
  11. Megan @ Our Pinteresting Family says

    June 27, 2014 at 10:36 am

    These look over the top delicious! Yum!
    Reply
  12. Laura (Tutti Dolci) says

    June 30, 2014 at 10:46 pm

    These lemon bars are just gorgeous!
    Reply
  13. Kinga says

    July 1, 2014 at 12:40 pm

    Wondering what size baking pan you used for these squares? Was it a 9x13? They look delish.
    Reply
    • Roxana says

      July 1, 2014 at 4:29 pm

      Hi Kinga, Thanks for catching that. Yes, I used a 13X9" baking pan.
      Reply
  14. Lisa @ Cooking with Curls says

    July 3, 2014 at 11:46 pm

    Lemon Bars are my favorite! Sadly I have never gotten around to making them. They look absolutely delicious Roxana. :)
    Reply
  15. kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor says

    July 8, 2014 at 6:52 pm

    Yummers! These lemon bars look delish, Roxana!
    Reply
  16. Elisabeth says

    July 14, 2014 at 10:29 am

    Hi Roxana Would it be possible to use grams and liters instead of "cups", "sticks", etc.? They are incomprehensible here in Europe.... A cup can be of all sizes, from an espresso cup to a tea cup... For us it is impossible to use your recipes because of this problem... Such a pity, because some of them really look delicious ;-) Lilly
    Reply
    • Roxana says

      July 14, 2014 at 12:22 pm

      Hi Elisabeth, I just updated the recipe, adding grams to most of the dry ingredients. Hope it's better now for you. If you have other questions, please let me know. I'm happy to help you Roxana
      Reply
      • Elisabeth says

        July 14, 2014 at 6:57 pm

        Tks Roxana, these lemon bars really appeal to me ;-)
        Reply
  17. Ashley says

    December 9, 2014 at 7:55 am

    The recipe looks amazing ! But what size of baking pan would you use ? A 9x13 or a square one ?
    Reply
    • Roxana says

      December 9, 2014 at 9:40 am

      Hi Asheley, I apologize for my mistake. I've used a 13X9" baking pan. Just updated the recipe form. Thanks, Roxana
      Reply

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Hi there! I'm Roxana. I have a passion for all things food, a sweet tooth that can’t be tamed and a severe case of the wanderlust. I make midweek meals exciting by sharing approachable recipes, both sweet and savory, that taste completely sinful. Read More →

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