Sunburst Lemon Bars

An easy lemon dessert recipe made from scratch. These outrageously delicious Lemon Bars are made with a shortbread sugar cookie crust and a sweet lemon pie filling made of eggs, lemon juice, and sugar. The crust features a classic bakery-style bar with incredible almond flavor.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword dessert bar, Lemon, lemon bars, Sugar cookie

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1

Servings servings

Calories 179kcal

Author Jessica (swankyrecipes.com)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup powdered confectioners' sugar
⅓ cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
¾ tbsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup packed almond paste Optional for almond flavor. No substitution needed if not using.

Filling

2 cups granulated sugar
⅓ cup + 1½ tbsp all-purpose flour
⅓ tsp salt
1 tsp lemon zest
¼ cup + 2 tsp fresh lemon juice about 2 lemons
4 large eggs

Icing - Optional

1 cup powdered confectioners' sugar
2-3 tbsp lemon juice or water

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 13x9-inch baking dish with parchment paper.
*Do not use foil for this recipe. If you don't have parchment paper to easily remove bars from pan after baking then proceed with an ungreased baking pan.
In large bowl fit with a mixer, beat base ingredients on low speed until dough comes together.
Press mixture evenly in bottom of a 13x9-inch pan. Flatten with spatula. Poke several holes in dough.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown around edges.
Whisk sugar, flour, salt. Zest and squeeze lemons; remove seeds. Add to bowl. Whisk eggs into mixture until throughouly mixed.
Remove the partially baked base from oven. Poke several more holes in crust. Pour filling evenly over warm crust.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is light golden brown and the center is mostly set. If the top starts to get too brown, cover with foil and continue to bake until center has settled.
Cool completely, about 1 hour.
Icing - May dust with powdered sugar or make icing.
In a small bowl, combine powdered confectioners' sugar and lemon juice or water. Evenly spread glaze over the top.

Nutrition