Best Lemon Bars - A Family Recipe
Straight from my grandmother Nama’s kitchen, these Homemade Lemon Bars are a treasured family recipe. Lovingly passed down for three generations, this recipe is surprisingly easy to prepare with readily available pantry ingredients. Bursting with citrusy flavor from fresh lemon juice and zest, these bars are lighter than other, denser lemon bars thanks to a unique ingredient.
Servings: 15 to 24 bar cookies
Calories: 154kcal
Ingredients
Cookie Crust
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Lemon Filling
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest about 2 medium lemons
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder reduce to 1/4 teaspoon above 7,000 feet
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
Frosting
- 1 tablespoon salted butter melted
- 3/4 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole milk or more if needed
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Optional (see note below): line a 7 by 11-inch pan with parchment paper.
Cookie Crust
- With an electric mixer, blend together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth, fluffy, and light in color, around 3 to 4 minutes. Add the flour and mix just the mixture starts to form clumps. Don’t overmix.
- Press dough into the bottom of the 7 by 11-inch baking dish.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside (don’t turn the oven off).
Lemon Filling
- Again with the electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together just until light in color and well blended. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, baking powder and salt and blend until just mixed. Spread over top of cooked crust.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until set - gently press the top with your finger to test. (Lemon filling will have puffed up and then settled down a bit). Set aside to cool in the pan for at least one hour before frosting.
Frosting
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients together until frosting consistency. Add more milk if too thick or more sugar if too thin.
- Spread over the top of the cookies.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour. Cut into bars (either 18, 24, or 28, depending on how large you want the cookies to be).
- Store the cookies, covered, in the refrigerator. Can serve cold or at room temperature.
Notes
Note about baking dish: If you line the pan with parchment paper the cookies will be easier to remove from the pan. However, you won’t get those browned, chewy edges; your choice.
High altitude: No adjustments are necessary up to 7000 feet. Above that level, reduce the baking powder to 1/4 teaspoon.
Gluten free: Substitute 1 cup gluten-free flour and 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum for the 1 cup flour. Double-check that all of your other ingredients are also gluten-free.
Note: This recipe was originally published in my cookbook A Well-Seasoned Kitchen®.
Nutrition
Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 118mg | Potassium: 25mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 250IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg