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lemon bars stacked on top of each other on a small white lipped plate with crumbs and icing sugar scattered around a lemon is visible in the background
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Quick & Easy Lemon Bars

These Quick & Easy Lemon Bars are zingy and bright with a delicious buttery shortbread base. Perfect for a picnic, get ahead dessert or afternoon tea treat. A real crowd pleaser.
Course Traybakes
Cuisine American
Prep Time 7 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
0 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 352kcal

Equipment

  • 1 7" baking tin lined
  • 1 Large Mixing Bowl
  • 1 electric mixer
  • 1 large metal spoon
  • 1 Digital Scales
  • 1 mixing jug
  • 1 fork or whisk

Ingredients

lemon topping

  • 2 large eggs
  • 140 grams caster sugar
  • 100 mls lemon juice

shortbread base

  • 200 grams plain flour
  • 60 grams icing sugar powdered
  • 160 grams salted butter

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 170 C (325 F) Gas Mark 3
  • Put the butter, sugar and flour into a mixing bowl.
  • Mix with an electric handheld whisk or free standing mixer with paddle until it all starts to clump together. You can use a wooden spoon too and some elbow grease.
  • Tip it into a 7 " baking tin lined with baking paper or similar. The lining needs to come all the way up the sides of the tin so you can use it to easily pull the whole thing out when cool.
    Do not use anything other than a tight fitting 7" baking tin otherwise the syrup will go down the sides and onto the bottom.
  • Smooth it over and level with a metal spoon.
  • Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown but you don't want the edges to come away from the edge of your baking tin. Otherwise some of the lemon mixture will leak down the sides and not stay on top.
  • Whilst the base is baking whisk together the 2 eggs, 150 grams of sugar and 100 mls of lemon juice in a jug until well mixed. I like to sieve this mixture as it just makes the lemon topping look smoother when baked but you really don't have to.
  • Pour this carefully on top of the baked shortbread and put back in the oven for about 15 minutes.
  • Until the topping has set and the edges have turned golden brown.
  • Leave in tin and wait until cool before putting in the fridge for an hour.
  • Slice into bars.
  • Dust with icing sugar if you want to go for the full glow up.
  • Apply To Face

Notes

  • This is a great way to use up lemons although you can freeze lemons. They do kinda lose their looks but they are still great to juice.
  • Slightly warm your lemons to get the most juice from them. A few seconds in the microwave works but no longer as they can explode!
  • Remember to make sure the lining of your baking tin goes high enough up the sides so that you can easily lift the whole thing from the tin when cool.
  • Don't overbake the shortbread as it will pull away from the edges allowing the lemon topping to flow down the side of the base. Keep checking for this during baking towards the end.
  • The shortbread may look like it is under baked a little when you are eating it but it is just the effect of the lemon syrup being absorbed a little into the shortbread.
  • I like to sieve the lemon mixture just to get rid of any bits of lemon flesh so that the topping bakes into a smooth finish but it is optional and you are dusting it with icing sugar anyways.
  • Don't be tempted to use anything other than freshly squeezed lemon juice. It just won't taste anywhere near as nice.
  • An independent oven thermometer is a great idea to keep an accurate idea of your oven temperature the inbuilt ones can be really off.

Nutrition

Calories: 352kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 90mg | Sodium: 147mg | Potassium: 63mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 568IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg