Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Perfect Lemon Bars Recipe

You guys! I have figured out THE recipe for lemon bars! They are oozing with luscious filling atop a buttery shortbread crust. They have the perfect blend of sweetness and tart lemon flavor. Perfection!!

perfect ooey gooey lemon bars



Perfect Lemon Bars Recipe

A few years ago, I tried making some lemon bars. I love a LOT of filling in lemon bars and they were perfect in that regard. However they were quite sour. So much so that they ended up being thrown out.

I have been dying to try an adjustment of that recipe, but was unsure of how to lower the amount of lemon juice without reducing the amount of filling.  It occurred to me to try replacing some of the lemon juice with water. I worried it wouldn't set up, but it worked out!!

Today I'm sharing the recipe.

If you love lemon, be sure to check out my lemon curd cookies. They're basically a lemon bar in cookie form. Also lemon freeze (Grandma's recipe) and lemon meringue pie are childhood favorites.

lemon squares
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Ingredients for Lemon Bars

  • butter
  • powdered sugar
  • flour
  • salt
  • eggs 
  • sugar
  • lemon
  • water

Helpful Kitchen Tools 



How do you know when lemon bars are done? 

For me, after 30 minutes the bars were still quite jiggly when moved. I baked them another five minutes and there was only a very slight movement when I wiggled the pan. To me this was the perfect timing. It created a gooey filling, but it still held up and wasn't runny.

How long will lemon squares keep?

I have found that the longer you keep them, the less "gooey" they become. They will stay good for up to 4 days, but they don't seem to last that long around here.

lemon bars

How should I store lemon bars? 

I didn't know the answer to this. I did not refrigerate mine. However after reading up I learned:


  • Because of the custard nature of lemon bars, they should be refrigerated if not eaten the same day they are baked.
  • It is fine to leave them out at room temperature for a few hours, such as on a party platter.


Don't forget to pin it!
lemon squares
lemon bars with text overlay
lemon bars with text overlay





Lemon Bars

Lemon Bars

Servings: 9
Author: Rachel Nielsen
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 55 MinTotal time: 1 H & 10 M
These lemon bars have luscious filling atop a buttery shortbread crust. They have the perfect blend of sweetness and tart lemon flavor. Perfection!!

Ingredients

Crust
  • 1/2 c. butter, softened
  • 1/4 c. powdered sugar
  • 1 c. flour
  • pinch of salt
Filling
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 c. sugar
  • zest of one lemon
  • 1/4 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
  • 1/4 c. water
  • 1/2 c. flour

Instructions

Crust
  1. Mix together ingredients.
  2. Press in the bottom and up the sides of an 8 X 8 pan.
  3. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until edges start to brown. 
  4. Let cool to room temperature. (You can place in the refrigerator for quicker cooling, if desired.)
Filling
  1. Mix filling ingredients and pour into cooled crust. 
  2. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. When they are done, they should only very slightly jiggle.
  3. Cool to room temperature or chill in refrigerator before cutting.
  4. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Notes:

You can double the recipe and bake in a 9 X 13 pan. Baking times may increase slightly.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

312.70

Fat (grams)

10.49

Sat. Fat (grams)

6.52

Carbs (grams)

53.95

Fiber (grams)

0.84

Net carbs

53.10

Sugar (grams)

37.05

Protein (grams)

2.39

Sodium (milligrams)

82.51

Cholesterol (grams)

27.26

Nutrition information is generated automatically and is not guaranteed to be correct.

lemon bars,
Dessert
American

8 comments :

  1. I love anything with lemon, and these bards sound absolutely delicious.
    Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party. Pinned.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My husband loves anything lemon.I have to make these for him , thank you ! I know we both will love them !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your lemon bars look amazing! Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at Full Plate Thursday, we have really enjoyed it. Hope you have a great day and come back soon!
    Miz Helen

    ReplyDelete
  4. In your recipe you said to bake the crust @ 150 degrees for 15 to 20 min. Did you make a typo with 150 rather than 350 or is that what you meant to say?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally a typo! Bake at 350. Thanks for catching that, I fixed it!

      Delete