Easy Lemon Bar Recipe (With Video Tutorial)
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This easy lemon bar recipe includes the perfect blend of zesty lemon flavor and irresistible sweetness with a shortbread crust that has an exquisitely light crunch.
I’m so very excited about this easy lemon bar recipe post and video tutorial! I hope you’ll watch it and comment below. It includes two very special guests: Terri, the reader who gave me the Dixie cornbread recipe, and another surprise guest (watch to find out).
But back to these luscious lemon bars! When I say this is an easy lemon bar recipe, you know I mean it! We first have to combine the butter, flour, and sugar to make the base, which we pre-bake. While that’s baking, we stir together the remaining lemon filling ingredients and pour them over the top, and bake once more. Then all you have to do is patiently wait for them to cool before sprinkling them with confectioner’s sugar.
These lemon bars are perfectly sweet but with a deliciously tangy and tart lemon flavor. Because we pre-bake the shortbread base, it has an exquisitely light crunch to it that I cannot get enough of! The combination of this with the soft and smooth lemon curd filling that just melts in your mouth is irresistible, let me tell you!
I hope you enjoyed watching this tutorial on how to make lemon bars as much as we did making it.
Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Butter
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Lemon juice
- Baking powder
How to Make Easy Lemon Bars
Making the Shortbread Crust
First, we’re going to make the base. Sift together flour and confectioner’s sugar.
Cut in butter until the mixture clings together.
Press base into a baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until lightly brown.
Making the Lemon Filling
Combine and beat together the eggs, granulated sugar, and lemon juice.
Sift flour and baking powder.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Pour this over the baked lemon bar crust.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until slightly brown and set.
Remove from the oven.
Cool and then sprinkle in the confectioner’s sugar.
Cut into bars and try not to eat all of these lovely before offering them to family and friends!
I sure do hope you enjoy 😀.
Storage
- These lemon bars are a great make-ahead dessert, as you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 days.
- You can also freeze the un-dusted bars for up to 4 months. Thaw them in the fridge and then dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.
Recipe Notes
- You can use either bottled lemon juice or fresh lemon juice.
- If using lemons to make fresh lemon juice, you can also add the lemon zest for added lemon flavor.
- To add more flavor to the base, go ahead and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- For easier removal, line your baking dish with parchment paper. Then you can use the leftover parchment paper hanging over the sides as handles to easily lift the lemon bars out of the pan.
- Refrigerate the bars before cutting them to make it easier to cut them into clean squares.
You may also like these bar recipes:
Three Layer Chocolate Fantasy Bars
Gooey Butter Bars From Scratch
Or if you are hankering for more lemon recipes:
Ingredients
Base
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Filling
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 tbsp confectioner's sugar
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
Base
- Sift together flour and confectioner's sugar. Cut in butter until the mixture clings together. Press into a 9x13-inch baking dish. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until lightly brown.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Filling
- Combine and beat together the eggs, granulated sugar, and lemon juice. Sift flour and baking powder and stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Pour the batter over the baked crust.4 eggs, 2 cups granulated sugar, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until slightly brown and set. Remove from the oven. Cool and then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar before cutting into bars.4 tbsp confectioner's sugar
Nutrition
Looking forward to many more years of Southern Plate.
I really love your recepies and your site!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Anniversary! Those lemon bars look delicious! Great video! Looks like you and Terri had a ball making it. And the intermission…what a hoot!!!
I received your cookbook yesterday and LOVE it!! Looking forward to making many “ASAP” recipes!
Oh my goodness, this is just fantastic! Bill?!?!?! Bill, that was you on the phone?
And I have no idea what this Burma Shave stuff is, all I know is I was reading and then the word Burma popped up and I got confused. lol
Crazy enough, do you know (no, you know, but now you do 😉 ) that is where my parents are from?
Your recipe for lemon bars is really different to the kind we make here. We make ours with a biscuit base, like a cheesecake, and the lemon frosting usually has sweetened condensed milk in. You probably have something similar there. I know you love your condensed milk. 😉
You two look like you had so much fun!
Christy,
Bravo! Bravo!
What a delight to watch you and your first video! You and Teri drew us in and made us feel like we were standing next to you in the kitchen. That’s not easy for most people. Your natural love for others shone through and it was obvious it was fun and not a bit of a problem for you!
Lemon bars, yummy! You know, for some reason, I don’t believe I have ever induldged in them. That’s about to change real soon!
Your video intro and out are excellent. They do a great job of evoking the feelings of your segments!
What a special joy to hear big brother Bill on the video! I look forward to meeting him in person at the gathering!
Congratulations on your first year Christy! You’re a vibrant whirlwind of happiness, enthusiasm and wonderful knowledge. What a joy it will be to see where year two takes you! I’m glad and honored to be on the ride with you!
Now, bask in the glow of your success, and then I call for a biscuit making tutorial. Mine are always tough and I know you can soften them right up for us!
Thank you for the honor of being my mentor, and the joy of being my friend!
Happy Anniverarsy!
Blessings to you, Ricky, Brady and Katy!
All my best,
Maralee
This is great! I love the video tutorial and seeing you cooking with friends ^_^
And yummy lemon bars! With this and those fried peach pies, I’ll be very happy for the few days (or maybe I should say hours) in which they will be consumed!
Christy!
Excellent video. You sound just like I expected….a nice lady.
Anyway..when I make lemon bars (and I make them every other month or so), I make the crust in the food processor….super easy, super fast.
I go in for “lemon overload,” so I wash a real lemon, and peel off the yellow (zest) with a sharp potato peeler, and cut it small, and add it to the dry ingredients, and process them before adding the butter. The processor cuts the lemon peel really finely. Don’t include any of the white (pith), for it is nasty tasting.
I then halve and juice the lemon…..
Happy Anniversary, Southern Plate!
Lawrence