Lemon Bars!
*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details!*
Easy five ingredient lemon bars – soft delicious buttery shortbread, smooth sharp lemon curd topping!
Lemon bars
I will say from the very first sentence now, that I am completely and utterly obsessed with these. They are the dreamiest of dreamy and I love them. If you like lemon, you will be obsessed!
Lemon Bars are something that I have had so many requests for over the years, but I just generally never got round to posting them.. finally, when I had a craving myself, I thought I would actually write up the recipe!
I know it sounds like it’s easy, but once you add on the photography, writing, editing etc… it does take a while to write up a recipe post! Also, I have to make sure not to eat all of the lemon bars before I’ve got the camera out. They’re too yummy.
So lemon bars have been around for a very long time – there are lots of yummy recipes out there such as from Sally’s Baking Addiction, and Once Upon a Chef – and they are definitely amazing inspiration for these.
Shortbread base
The base, is the same as for my millionaires shortbread – a simple shortbread of unsalted butter, sugar, and flour. I like to use block butter for the best result, caster sugar for the best sweetness, and plain flour.. obviously.
I use an easy ratio of 2:1:3 when I make my shortbread these days, and I find it works wonders. 200g butter, 100g sugar, 300g flour! Mix them together as per the recipe, and you have a lovely crumbly shortbread. Press them into your 9×9″ square tin – and bake! So simple.
Lemon topping
The topping for this, you can make whilst it’s baking. It doesn’t take long, and you are making a sort of lemon curd, lemon meringue pie style lemon filling – that you will bake straight on top of the shortbread. It can end up making the shortbread look under baked, but it’s not – it’s just soaked up the delicious lemon goodness.
I like to use the lemon zest and lemon juice from the lemons for the most flavour – but you can leave the lemon zest out if you want. Bottled lemon juice works fine too! There is definitely nothing wrong with buying bottled lemon juice in my books.
Make sure to zest your lemons first, and then juice them – the amount of lemons may vary because of the sizing – but it’s about 5 lemons you use. I grate my lemon zest on the fine one so the pieces aren’t too large!
I add in my sugar and plain flour to a bowl and whisk until combined. Then, I add in the lemon juice, zest and eggs mix until smooth. It really doesn’t take long at all which is why it’s so good!
Top and bake!
Once the shortbread has baked, take it out, pour the lemon mixture straight on – and put back into the oven. It really is that simple! I like to call this five ingredients as you have the sugar, butter, flour, eggs and lemon. You could argue the zest and juice is two, but as it’s from one lemon…
Tips!
For an optional end, you can dust the top with icing sugar – but it’s not essential. I just think it looks pretty!! I hope you love these delicious lemon bars as much as I do! Feel free to try this with other citrus fruits too – like lemon and orange! x
Lemon Bars!
Ingredients
Shortbread Base
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 100 g caster sugar
- 300 g plain flour
Lemon Curd Topping
- 375 g caster sugar
- 50 g plain flour
- 6 medium eggs
- 225 ml lemon juice
- Zest of 5 lemons (optional)
Extra
- 1-2 tbsp icing sugar (optional)
Instructions
Shortbread Base
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan, and line a 9x9inch deep square tin with parchment paper.
- Cream together the sugar and butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth – mix in the flour until a dough is formed. It will be crumbly but the ingredients will be evenly dispersed!
- Firmly press the mixture into the bottom of tin and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until pale golden on top! Towards the end of baking, make the lemon mixture!
Lemon Curd Topping
- Sift your flour into a large bowl, and add the sugar.
- Whisk the two together until combined!
- Add in your eggs, lemon juice and zest, and whisk until combined.
- Once the shortbread is baked, remove from the oven and pour the lemon mixture over the top.
- Return to the oven, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the lemon mixture no longer wobbles!
- Leave to cool at room tempearture for about 2 hours, and then put in the fridge for another 2 hours (or over night) to firm up.
- If you want to, dust the top with icing sugar, and then cut up and enjoy!
Notes
- These will last for up to one week, in the fridge!
- I use this 9x9" square tin!
- You can use lime, orange, or grapefruit in place - follow the same ideas just switch out the lemon!
- These can be frozen for up to 3 months!
ENJOY!
Find my other Recipes on my Recipes Page!
You can find me on:
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Youtube
J x
© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Wow! made a batch of these today and cannot wait to try them, going to serve them with some raspberry coulis and fresh raspberries, the smell while they were baking was incredible
Wow! These pack a lemony punch. Absolutely delicious and turned out perfect, thank you for a wonderful recipe I’ll use again and again.
Lemon is my favourite flavour and these really hit the spot, they’re deliciously zesty and very refreshing. They are also so easy to make with clear instructions. I really recommend them, they’d be lovely as part of a summery afternoon tea with some homemade lemonade.
Hi Jane, made these today and have a couple of questions. How firmly do you press the shortbread mix? Mine taxed lovely but the shortbread wasn’t really crumbly? Also I had like a skin on the top of the lemon mix. Is that right or have I done it wrong?
Yeah so my shortbread is usually a very crumbly mix, so I press it down firmly till it’s smooth! And that’s usually because of the air when you whisk the mixture together – it’s quite common and you can get rid of the air bubbles by lightly blow torching the top before baking, or just do the sprinkle of icing sugar to hide it! X
Thank you Jane for this amazing recipe. Tried it last weekend and froze half to stop us eating them all! Absolutely perfect lemony hit and soft shortbread which is all perfect. We love em. One question – on completion they looked just like your picture, but after setting in fridge they went sticky. I have stored them in the fridge and they are constantly sticky (but obvs delish!) – what did I do wrong?
Like many others, I spent lockdown trying dishes I’ve never tackled before, and your blog is my go-to. How do you stay slim??! Thank you Jane 😊👍
So glad you liked them!! They can be a bit sticky, but it may be that they needed a little longer baking? xx
I made these this week, the whole family LOVED them. Thank you so much. X
Hi Jane! I made these yesterday and my shortbread base took a little while longer to cook, so I’m hoping that turns out ok! 🙈 But my question is the lemon topping seems to have a sponge top to it, is that right or have I gone wrong somewhere? Thanks!
It could be that the lemon part is over baked slightly? Also if there is lots of air in the egg mixture it can leave like a foam on top before baking which can look a little weird sometimes!! x
Made this as looking for new recipes during lockdown everyone in my family and friends loved it requests for more
Another fabulous recipe, made these today and they are gorgeous! I also made them with stork block so they would be dairy free for a colleague and can confirm this works beautifully still!
I’d just like to say thank you for your wonderful blog, I truly have baked my way through lockdown and for some unknown reason I had never stumbled across your blog until this time. Baking has helped me keep myself grounded through the uncertain times, and your recipes have never failed me. So thank you, and I look forward to baking many more!
AHh thank you so much, that’s so lovely of you to say! And I’m so glad this recipe was a hit! xx
Made these this afternoon- absolutely delicious! Recipe so easy too. Had some left over blueberries so added these to the lemon curd mix, seemed to work well and looks pretty!
I have made your lemon bar brother text me when are you bring more
Thank you! I was recommended to look at your site a couple of Months ago. I am not an experienced baker by any means but everything I have cooked has turned out very well and my family have enjoyed everything! I made these amazing lemon slices yesterday and they were a real hit, although I must confess we couldn’t wait until they were set and had some warm and oozy with a cup of tea on a wet Sunday afternoon, totally recommended!!!!!!!
Ahh warm and ooozy ones are still delicious! So glad you enjoyed them!!
Hi Jane, love your recipes! I’ve made so many of them. If I wanted to make this in a 9×12 tin how would I adjust the recipe please 🙂 xx
I would use 1/3 more of the recipe – baking time will also increase by about 5-10 minutes (for both layers) x