Luscious Lemon Bars
You only need a handful of ingredients to make these Luscious Lemon Bars. They begin with a buttery biscuit base and are topped with a baked lemon curd which is extra thick, creamy and luscious! The trick here is to not over bake. This is a simple recipe that comes together quickly and makes the perfect lemon season dessert!
Table of Contents
Let’s talk about lemons!
You want to use fresh lemons here. Reconstituted lemons are a no-no. After all, this is a lemon dessert and they’re the star of the show! Any type of lemon will work. Regular lemons or Meyer lemons which are sweeter.
What makes these Luscious Lemon Bars so good?
Two things. The buttery biscuit base at the bottom. And the gooey lemon filling.
- This dessert is easy to make
- The base is not overly crumbly
- This dessert is really light
- It’s infused with aromatic lemon zest
- The gooey lemon filling
- The huge lemon flavor punch!
What’s the secret to perfectly Luscious Lemon Bars?
Not overbaking! Bake your lemon bars just right and you’ll have something gooey once it’s set and cooled. Over baking results in a rubbery. Almost eggy lemon layer. You’re looking for a slight jiggle in the very centre of your lemon bars.
There are only 7 ingredients!
All-purpose flour – also known as plain flour. You could use cake flour and leave out the corn starch if you wish.
Corn starch – also known as corn flour, this helps make the base a little lighter in texture.
Powdered sugar – also known as icing sugar, this will help sweeten the base but still make the crumb fine and crumbly.
Salt – I use fine salt.
Lemons – I used lemon zest in the base to help boost the lemon flavors in these gorgeous bars. I used zest and lemon juice in the filling. The result is that you’re left with a huge flavor punch of lemon.
Unsalted butter – Make sure your butter is nice and chill, straight out of the fridge. Cut it into cubes to make it easier to process. Using cold butter will also
Caster sugar – also known as superfine sugar, this will dissolve into the filling easier than granulated sugar.
How to make Luscious Lemon Bars
Shortbread Base
- Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180C / 350F. Spray an 8×8” square cake tin with oil spray and line with baking paper. Add the all-purpose flour, corn starch, powdered sugar, salt, and lemon zest to the bowl of a food processor.
- Blitz until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add the butter and blitz for about 30-40 seconds until you reach pea sized butter.
- Pour into the cake tin and spread out. Press down firmly using our hands or a flat-bottomed glass/measuring cup. Bake for 12 minutes or until light and golden. Allow to cool slightly.
Lemon Filing
- Lower your oven temperature to 160C / 320F. Add the lemon zest, caster sugar and flour to a large mixing bowl. Use a whisk to combine.
- Then add the eggs and lemon juice. Whisk until just combined. Take care not to overmix.
- Pour into the slightly cooled shortbread base and bake for 22-25 minutes or until the middle is set and only has a slight jiggle in the very center.
- Take care not to overbake or it will feel like eating rubber and won’t be perfectly gooey. Allow to cool at room temperature and then chill in the fridge to set for 2 hours before slicing.
My Top Tips to making the best Luscious Lemon Bars!
- Allowing your lemon bars to properly cool before slicing results in nice, neat slices.
- Don’t over bake your lemon bars or you’ll end up with a rubbery lemon layer instead of something that’s nice and gooey.
- Use fresh lemons! Reconstituted lemon juice lacks the flavour punch that fresh lemons give you. And since this is the main selling point of this dessert, you want to make sure you use the best of everything!
- Cutting these lemon bars is really easy. And getting nice
White bubbles on top of your lemon bars?
That’s normal! The bubbles are the air that you whisked into the lemon filling as it was being baked. Simply let the filling rest for 5 minutes before pouring into the biscuit base, then bake. If they remain after baking, never fear! These will be dusted with powdered sugar and covered up!
Want to try my lemon desserts? Try these!
Fluffy Lemon Mallow Slice
Lemon Tart
Lemon Sponge Cake
PERFECT Lemon Meringue Pie
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N x
Luscious Lemon Bars
Serves 9
Ingredients
Shortbread Base
- 1/2 cup (75 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) corn flour/starch
- 1/2 cup (75 g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 lemon zested
- 1/2 cup (125 g) unsalted butter cold
Lemon Filing
- 1 lemon zested
- 2 cups (420 g) caster sugar
- 1/3 cup (50 g) all-purpose flour
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup (250 ml) lemon juice about 4 large lemons
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Learn How To Make it! [VIDEO]
Instructions
Shortbread Base
- Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180C / 350F. Spray an 8x8” square cake tin with oil spray and line with baking paper.
- Add the all-purpose flour, corn starch, powdered sugar, salt, and lemon zest to the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add the butter and blitz for about 30-40 seconds until you reach pea sized butter.
- Pour into the cake tin and spread out. Press down firmly using our hands or a flat-bottomed glass/measuring cup. Bake for 12 minutes or until light and golden. Allow to cool slightly.
Lemon Filing
- Lower your oven temperature to 160C / 320F. Add the lemon zest, caster sugar and flour to a large mixing bowl. Use a whisk to combine. Then add the eggs and lemon juice. Whisk until just combined. Take care not to overmix.
- Pour into the slightly cooled shortbread base and bake for 22-25 minutes or until the middle is set and only has a slight jiggle in the very center. Take care not to overbake or it will feel like eating rubber and won’t be perfectly gooey. Allow to cool at room temperature and then chill in the fridge to set for 2 hours before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
8 comments
Hi. 1/12 c of butter? Did you mean 1/2 cup? Typo? (I make those all the time!) this recipe looks incredible, and I have all the ingredients to try it today. 💖
Hi Juliana! Hmm, looks like the recipe has been updated 🙂 N x
The filling is delicious! However i did the paper the same way as you in the video but for some reason my filling leaked beneath the base biscuit layer and then didn’t firm up properly, when i tried to remove and cut everything was a disaster and paper was stuck everywhere and i couldn’t figure it out.
It was a wonderful mess but next time i’ll line the tin differently i think!
Oh no, sorry to hear that Stefanie! N x
I made this today with lemons from our tree. It was so easy and absolutely delicious. I used half the amount of sugar for the filling. I’ll be making this again for sure.
That’s so good to hear! N x
Made this today and it’s overly sweet, not enjoyable to eat and ended up being thrown out. I think I will make it again but will be reducing the sugar to see how it turns out.
Yeah, this is a sweet dessert lol. Reducing sugar will not result in a dessert stable enough to hold its shape. I understand it’s not for you, but every single recipe is the same. It’s very tart and sweet. Thanks for the 4 stars though!