Lemon Bars with Shortbread Cookie Crust
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If you’re looking for a bright and refreshing dessert, these Lemon Bars with Shortbread Cookie Crust are just what you need. With their zesty lemon filling and buttery shortbread base, this lemon bar recipe is a treat everyone will love!
Also known as lemon squares, these lemon bars are a classic dessert bar with a bright lemon filling.
Like lemon cake mix cookies, lemon cupcakes, lemon layer cake, and lemon lush, these tangy lemon bars are a popular choice for holidays, brunches, bridal showers, baby showers, and bakes sales.
I especially love serving chilled lemon bars right from the fridge during the Spring and Summer months. They are light, fresh, and just the perfect dessert for warm days.
As you will see, these homemade lemon bars are not only the perfect combination of tart and sweet, but they are also super smooth and creamy thanks to the extra egg yolks in the recipe.
Lemon Bar Ingredients
This section includes ingredient notes and substitution options. Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
To make this lemon shortbread cookie bar recipe you will need the ingredients below.
- Butter– we use unsalted butter so that we can control the amount of salt in the recipe. If you only have salted butter on hand you can use that instead but leave out adding any additional salt to the recipe.
- All-purpose flour– Used in both the shortbread cookie crust and to help stabilize the lemon curd filling.
- Granulated sugar – regular white sugar
- Salt
- Eggs
- Lemons– You will use both lemon juice and lemon zest in this recipe. I always use regular lemons to make these bars but meyer lemons would work as well. However, keep in mind that meyer lemons are a bit sweeter and less acidic so they would alter the taste a bit. Or try making the bars with other citrus fruit: orange zest and orange juice would be delicious. Or try grapefruit!
- Confectioners sugar– aka powdered sugar. For dusting over the top of the bars.
How to Make Lemon Bars with Shortbread Cookie Crust
This section shows you how to make the recipe with step-by-step photos and instructions. For the full printable recipe, see the recipe card below.
Step 1: Make the shortbread crust. Mix the crust ingredients together. Press the dough into a parchment-lined baking dish and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Step 2: Prepare the lemon curd filling. Whisk the filling ingredients together and pour over the crust.
Step 3: Bake. Bake for 20 minutes or until the center is set.
Step 4: Cool, slice & serve. Allow bars to cool at room temperature before dusting generously with powdered sugar and using a sharp knife to slice into squares.
Why are my bars bubbling?
Don’t worry if you see air bubbles on the top of your baked lemon bars. This is normal and can be easily covered up with a generous dusting of confectioners sugar.
Storage
Refrigerate lemon bars in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Seperate layers with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Refresh with an additional dusting of confectioners sugar just before serving, if desired.
Lemon bars can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Place fully cooled bars on a baking sheet and freeze for about 2 hours. Then remove from freezer, wrap bars individually in plastic wrap, and place in a freezer baggie.
For best results, freeze bars without the dusting of powdered sugar. Thaw the bars overnight and add dust with powdered sugar just before serving.
Tips for the best lemon bars
- Use fresh lemon juice for the best flavor–not the stuff that comes in a bottle
- Zest your lemons before juicing them, making sure to get only the yellow rind and not the white pith.
- For extra lemon flavor, up the lemon juice in the lemon curd to 2/3 cup.
- Use a glass pan or ceramic baking pan. Metal pans can give the bars a metallic taste.
More dessert bar recipes
If you enjoyed these classic lemon bars give these other dessert bars a try:
- Funfetti Cookie Bars
- Homemade Twix Bars
- Sugar Cookie Bars
- Harvest Spice Bars
- Unicorn Cheesecake Bars
- Oatmeal Lemon Creme Bars
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars
Lemon Bars with Shortbread Crust
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Lemon Filling
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- confectioners sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper, letting it overhang the edges.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the shortbread crust ingredients and mix until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press firmly into the bottom of the baking dish in an even layer and bake for 16-20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.
- In a large bowl, whisk to combine the eggs, egg yolk, granulated sugar, flour, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Pour over the crust and bake for 20 minutes or until the center is just set.
- Remove the bars from the oven and place on a wire rack. Allow the baked bars to cool completely at room temperature for 1-2 hours. Then, cover with plastic wrap and refrigererate until chilled, about another 1-2 hours. Dust generously with confectioners sugar before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Use fresh lemon juice for the best flavor.
- Use a glass or ceramic pan, not metal.
- Store bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Separate layers with parchment paper.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Totally AWESOME! Very light, but packed with lemon flavor. Its in my FAV category!
Yay! So glad that you enjoyed them as much as we do!
I’ve made this twice. I highly recommend using non-stick spray along with parchment paper. I had to literally chisel out the first batch.
I also recommend writing this recipe down because there are so many pop-up ads that continuously hide the content that it’s extremely frustrating.