The Best Homemade Lemon Bars Recipes

LEMON BARS RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x9 or an 8x8 pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
• Make the crust by creaming the butter with a hand or a stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) until smooth. Add powdered sugar, flour, and salt and mix slowly until the mixture is crumbly but sticks together when you press it between your fingers. Press the crust into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for about 13 minutes, or until it just starts to get a light golden brown around the edges.
• While the crust is baking, whisk the eggs until beaten. Whisk in the sugar, lemon zest, salt, and lemon juice. Pour over hot crust, then continue to bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the mixture is no longer liquid in the center and it's lightly golden brown on top.
• Cool completely before removing from pan. Remove foil, then dust with powdered sugar. Slice and serve, dusting with more powdered sugar as desired.

PERFECT LEMON BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of an 8'' pan with parchment paper, or grease with cooking spray and set aside
• For the crust: In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and powdered sugar. Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed, just until combined.
• Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared dish. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
• While the crust cools, make the lemon filling. Mix the lemon zest and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, flour, baking powder, and eggs. Mix until well combined and the sugar is dissolved. Pour mixture over crust.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 more minutes, or until the filling has set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar before cutting and serving. Store lemon bars in the refrigerator.

THE BEST LEMON BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
• Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. For a festive tray, make another pan using limes instead of lemons and adding a drop of green food coloring to give a very pale green. After both pans have cooled, cut into uniform 2 inch squares and arrange in a checker board fashion.

THE BEST HOMEMADE LEMON BARS RECIPE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• Cream together softened butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
• Add flour and salt and mix until blended.
• Press into the bottom of prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.
• While crust is cooking, make filling by mixing together sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour filling over hot crust and bake for about 25 -30 minutes or until set.
• Remove from oven and dust with powdered sugar.
• Cool completely and cut into squares.

THE BEST LEMON BARS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on 2 sides; spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
• For the crust: Add the flour, cornstarch, confectioners' sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse 10 times until combined. Add the cold butter and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand, about 30 times. (The dough will not come together in one mass.) Sprinkle the mixture evenly in the prepared pan and lightly pat it down. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until golden brown around the edges, 20 to 25 minutes.
• For the filling: Combine the eggs, yolks, sugar, flour, salt and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Whisk continuously over medium heat, occasionally scraping down the sides and edges of the pan with a rubber spatula, until simmering and thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon zest and butter until combined.
• Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Pour the filling over the crust and bake until just set, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.
• Use the foil overhang to lift the bars from the pan. Remove the foil and slice into squares. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

THE MOST-LEMONY LEMON BAR OF ALL TIME

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with foil leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Grease the foil and dish with 1 tablespoon butter.
• To make the crust, pulse the zest with 1/3 cup of the sugar in a food processor until the sugar is yellow and sandy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the butter, cornstarch and salt and pulse until the dough comes together, about 1 minute. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is golden at the edges and pale golden in the center, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. To make the filling, whisk the eggs and egg yolks with the remaining 1 2/3 cups sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup flour in a bowl until smooth. Whisk in 1 cup lemon juice.
• Pour the filling over the warm crust and return to the oven. Bake until the filling is just set, about 30 minutes.
• Cool the lemon bars on a wire rack, 30 minutes, then refrigerate uncovered until firm, at least 1 hour. Lift the bars out of the pan using the foil. Peel off the foil and cut into 24 bars. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Place a piece of gummy lemon candy on top of each square and serve.

THE BEST LEMON BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350. Locate an 8x8 baking dish.
• Crust: Combine the 1 cup flour, butter, and powdered sugar in the food processor. Run until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Dump crust mixture into the pan. Distribute and press down by hand create the crust over the pan. You should create a firm, even layer of crust over the bottom of the pan, and a short edge (1/4-1/2 inch) of crust on the sides, which will help to contain the lemon filling later.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes. Prepare filling while crust bakes.
• Filling: Combine lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, and eggs into the same food processor bowl (no need to wash between steps). Allow the processor to run the entire time the crust bakes. Upon removing crust, add the flour/baking powder mixture to the processor and mix another minute. Pour this over the top of the crust.
• Place the pan back into the oven; decrease temperature to 325. Bake for 13-18 minutes. Top should appear white with golden overtones.
• Remove from oven; cool for at least 15 minutes. Cut into squares. (I cut mine with a "Bash and Chop"- a great tool).

THE BEST LEMON BARS

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
• 2. In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
• 3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
• 4. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. For a festive tray, make another pan using limes instead of lemons and adding a drop of green food coloring to give a very pale green. After both pans have cooled, cut into uniform 2 inch squares and arrange in a checker board fashion.
• My Note: Definitely use at least 1/2 cup of lemon juice or more. I've made this recipe many times and find that 2/3 cups lemon juice (juice of 3 large lemons) gives this the perfect tartness. (add 1 extra tablespoon flour if using 2/3 cup juice) I also added the zest of 2 of the lemons. I made this in an 8 X 11 dish (smaller than what the recipe calls for) and found it ideal. The crust is the perfect thickness and there is enough lemon custard in each bite to satisfy. This recipe makes a lot of crust and does spread into a 9 x 13 dish easily, but makes a thinner bar. If using the smaller baking dish (i.e, 8 X 11), make sure to increase cooking time of the crust and filling an extra 5-10 min each. As another reviewer stated, it's better to overcook then undercook the crust. Also, add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the crust for more flavor. This will be my master recipe for Lemon Bars.
• Definitely use at least 1/2 cup of lemon juice or more. I've made this recipe many times and find that 2/3 cups lemon juice (juice of 3 large lemons) gives this the perfect tartness. (add 1 extra tablespoon flour if using 2/3 cup juice) I also added the zest of 2 of the lemons. I made this in an 8 X 11 dish (smaller than what the recipe calls for) and found it ideal. The crust is the perfect thickness and there is enough lemon custard in each bite to satisfy. This recipe makes a lot of crust and does spread into a 9 x 13 dish easily, but makes a thinner bar. If using the smaller baking dish (i.e, 8 X 11), make sure to increase cooking time of the crust and filling an extra 5-10 min each. As another reviewer stated, it's better to overcook then undercook the crust. Also, add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the crust for more flavor. This will be my master recipe for Lemon Bars.
• I tried it again using the juice of 5 lemons (a little over 2/3 cup) and the zest of two lemons. I also added 1/3 Celsius flour to compensate for the extra liquid. I also had to increase the bake time to about 24 minutes. These turned out GREAT with the extra lemon (and, of course, powdered sugar on top). I also added a dash of salt to the crust and thought it was divine. These weren't anything flashy or out of the ordinary -- just exactly what lemon bars should taste like.