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The Best Classic Easy Lemon Bars With Shortbread Crust Recipe – buttery crust and fresh and tangy lemon curd on top. Simple dessert, you can make any time of the year!
These Easy Lemon Bars With Shortbread Crust taste heavenly! You won’t believe how easy to make they are, too!
I can’t believe it, but I did not crave sweets almost throughout my entire pregnancy. These classic lemon bars are no exception.
They are meant to be served cold.
I was scared looking at Pinterest or facebook, or visit my favorite blogs, because every single dessert I see, I need to have it!
My recent obsession – lemon bars!
The combination of shortbread and lemon curd in these classic lemon bars is a winner. You can also check out my Meyer lemon curd recipe and these Berry Lemon Tartlets that I made a while back.
They are very easy to make and require some staple ingredients, you probably already have. Did I mention, I love anything “shortbread”? Like these Nutella shortbread cookies and this Blackberry Cheesecake With Shortbread Crust.
What ingredients do you need to make homemade lemon bars?
To make the crust the crust:
- butter
- sugar
- flour
- salt
For the lemon curd filling:
-
eggs
-
sugar
-
flour
-
lemon juice
How to make these Easy lemon Bars from scratch at home?
-
Preheat oven to 350F.
-
Line a 9×9 baking dish with parchment paper.
-
In a food processor, process butter, sugar, flour and salt until crumbs are formed. You can do this by hand, incorporating the butter into the dry ingredients, but it si a little messy.
-
Spread dough onto the baking dish in an even layer.
-
Bake crust for 15 -18 minutes, until the edges are golden. Let it cool for 15 minutes.
-
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling.
-
In a bowl, whisk eggs and sugar. Add flour, whisk again, make sure there are no lumps. Add lemon juice and whisk to incorporate.
-
Pour mixture over the crust.
-
Bake for 30 minutes, until the top is set.
-
Let it cool in the pan for 1 hour, then cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
-
Remove from pan together with the foil.
-
Slice into squares.
-
Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
The shortbread crust is on the thick side here! If this is too thick for your taste, you can reduce all ingredients of the crust in half and also reduce the baking time.
These classic lemon bars do remind me of my childhood.
My grandmother used to make similar bars, but she would cut them into smalled squares, this way they were more like cookies than bars.
Should you use regular lemons or Meyer lemons for lemon bars?
If Meyer lemons are in season, feel free to use them. Just remember that they are less acidic and you might want to reduce the amount of sugar for the curd.
These lemon bars are bursting with flavor and make the perfect citrusy dessert for any time of the year. The ultimate holiday treat, too! These classic lemon bars are so good!
You can also swipe some lime juice for the lemon juice in the lemon bars curd filling for an even more citrusy flavor.
Toppings to add to these easy, buttery and tart lemon bars:
- berries
- lemon slices
- lemon zest
- powdered sugar
- mint for garnishing
How to store lemon bars? Howl long will they keep in the fridge?
Store lemon bars in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
I don’t recommend freezing these, but they could be frozen in an air tight container for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge and serve.
Classic Lemon Bars With Shortbread Crust Recipe
Video
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2 sticks, , 112grams each (1 cup) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the filling (curd):
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2/3 cups lemon juice (fresh squeezed is recommen
Instructions
For the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Line a 9×9 baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a food processor, process butter, sugar, flour and salt until crumbs are formed. You can do this by hand, incorporating the butter into the dry ingredients, but it si a little messy.
- Spread dough onto the baking dish in an even layer.
- Bake crust for 15 -18 minutes, until the edges are golden. Let it cool for 15 minutes.
For the filling:
- While the crust is baking, prepare the filling.
- In a bowl, whisk eggs and sugar. Add flour, whisk again, make sure there are no lumps. Add lemon juice and whisk to incorporate.
- Pour mixture over the crust.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until the top is set.
- Let it cool in the pan for 1 hour, then cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Remove from pan together with the foil.
- Slice into squares.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I absolutely love classic lemon bars and yours look perfect, Mira! Not to mention these are absolutely beautiful!! Like little ray’s of sunshine for mah belleh! 😉 Cheers, dear!
Oh see, I normally don’t have a sweet tooth, but since I’ve been pregnant I have to have something sweet everyday! Omg, I would totally devour these lemon bars – I love that tart sweetness!
Lemon is one of my favorite dessert flavors all year long. These bars look perfect for those sweet cravings!
I found your recipe on Pintrest and I made the lemon squares this past Saturday. I ate the last one yesterday (Monday)! They were super easy to make and they were SUPER good! I love extra think shortbread crust. Your directions were SUPER easy to follow as well. Thanks you for sharing your recipe!!
Hi Adrienne! Thanks for the sweet comments and I’m so happy the recipe worked for you! Have a great day!
Do you think I can freeze the lemon bars?
Hi Louise, I’ve never done it, so I can not say yes, sorry!
These were pretty good, thank you! Very tangy and lemony but I like that. Question- if I need to make these on Wednesday for Sunday, would they last in the fridge? Or not a good idea?
Thanks Jess, glad you liked them! They will definitely last, but the crust will get a little soft, not sure if this will be ok for you.
Oh my!!! I NEVER post comments; in fact, I do believe this is my first. But…I had to leave a review for these… they are hands-down the best lemon bars I have ever eaten, and I love lemon bars! My son made them (he’s 9) with my supervision and they came out amazingly delicious!!! He was so proud of them!
So glad that you liked these! Thanks Jessica!
I went through all of my pinned lemon bar recipes and deleted all but this one. These are perfect!
OMG, thanks so much for the nice words! I’m glad you liked them!
Love these lemon bars!!
Is the butter softened or cold?
I use softened butter. We don’t need the crust to be too flakey, so softened works better here.