Lemon bars are really easy to make and a delight to savour! Made with a classic Scottish shortbread base and a fresh lemon curd topping that is a lovely balance of sweet and zing. I think you’ll be surprised how straightforward these are to make!
Lemon Bars
I’m a big fan of baked goods you can eat on the move with one hand. Don’t get me wrong. I won’t turn down a big fat slice of cake, nor can I walk away from a freshly cooked apple crumble.
But they involve plates and cutlery. (And ice cream and cream).
Whereas lemon bars and the like? I won’t even break stride as I swipe one when I walk past, then devour on the go.
Dangerous. Handy. And delicious.
Which, in addition to being dangerous to have around, also means it makes excellent food for taking to school bake sales, gatherings and morning tea at work. Just – easy to eat. Bonus: easy to make.
Making lemon bars
Promised easy, and easy it is! Here’s how to make this lemon bars:
Lemon bar base
The base of these lemon bars is a classic Scottish shortbread. Delightfully crumbly and buttery.
In my pre-appliance days (read: when I was a poor uni student), I used to make shortbread using my fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. These days, I’m lazy and use my food processor. 4 or 5 quick pulses, and it’s done. How easy is that??
Pour the buttery “sand” into the tin, pat down, bake for 15 minutes. While it’s baking, whisk together the very simple lemon curd (eggs, sugar, lemon and flour), pour it in, bake again. Then cool to let it set.
That’s it.
Is shortbread made with rice flour or cornflour?
Oh – I forgot to mention: rice flour vs cornflour/cornstarch. The jury is out out on whether classic Scottish shortbread is made using rice flour or cornflour. Rice flour produces a crisper biscuit (but still soft) that crumbles beautifully as shortbread should. In contrast, shortbread made with cornflour is not as crisp but melts in your mouth more.
For this particular recipe, I think that the crisper shortbread is nicer as a contrast to the creamy lemon curd.
The magic of baking and how a few simple steps can transform into something so scrumptious always amazes me. In fact, with the shortbread base, these taste just like lemon meringue pies – minus the meringue top! – Nagi x
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Easy Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread Base
- 3/4 cup (115g) plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1/4 cup (40g) rice flour (or cornstarch/cornflour) (Note 1)
- 1/2 cup (60g) icing sugar / confectioner’s sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 110 g / 1 stick butter (cold), cut into 1cm / 1/2″ cubes
Lemon Topping
- 3 large eggs or 4 small eggs
- 1 cup (200g) caster sugar / super fine sugar
- 1/4 cup (35g) plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 tbsp lemon zest (do this before juicing)
- 6 tbsp (90ml) lemon juice (2 – 3 lemons)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (all oven types). Spray a 20cm/8" square tin with oil and line with baking/parchment paper with overhang (so it can be lifted out once cooked).
- Place Shortbread Base ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until crumbs form – see photo. (Note 2) Pour into prepared tin and press evenly and firmly into the base.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven.
- While the base is baking, place Lemon Topping ingredients in a bowl and whisk until combined.
- Pour Lemon Topping onto the Shortbread Base. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes until the topping is set and light golden.
- Remove from oven and cool. Transfer to fridge and cool for 2 hours before slicing into 16 squares. Dust with icing sugar (confectionary sugar) and serve.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
I love bars and slices.
Easy to eat on the go!
Brownies!! AND Salted Caramel Stuffed Brownies – ooh la la!!
Caramel Slice (aka Millionaire’s Shortbread!) – the great Aussie favourite!
Strawberry Bars – made with tons of fresh strawberries!
Easiest Ever Raspberries Jam Bars
No Bowl Choc Nut Bars – just layered up right in the pan!
Life of Dozer
Dozer….in disbelief that none of these Lemon Bars came his way….
I used rice flour in the shortbread base and the slight crunchy texture is nice with the smooth lemon topping. A quick and easy slice with great lemon flavour!
Such a quick & easy recipe to make. I didn’t have fresh lemons so used bottled lemon instead. I added an additional tbsp of lemon juice instead of the zest. Worked out well. I used 4 x size 6 eggs
Just noticed if you scale the recipe ingredients the “4 small eggs” doesn’t get scaled as well. I was confused when I was “6 large eggs or 4 small eggs” but now it makes sense since the 4 isn’t scaling!
I have some really high quality shortbread cookies. Any chance I could pulse them and use them as the base to avoid baking shortbread?
This was a lovely recipe – can I suggest you include a photo what it should look like coming out of the oven please? I wasn’t sure and so under baked it the first time.
I only had a small bread baking dish (I’m new to cooking) so I tried to do it there. I over processed my dry mix, unfortunately undercooked my batter, and ended up with the most delicious lemon pudding I’ve ever had! Everyone wants the recipe!
Even when butchered your recipes are amazing, thank you so much!
Do we pour the lemon on the hot base or let the base cool first?
Yum Yum Yum. Made this to share with my stitching friends. They all loved it. Definitely added to my recipe tin. The base took a little longer to cook otherwise perfect. Yet another fabulously easy recipe. Thanks Nagi
Is it 110g of butter or 125? I know the recipe says 110…but it doesn’t seem enough?
This is super delicious however I found the topping thin. I put only 1/2 cup of sugar and added 3tbsp of lemon zest with 9tbspof lemon. Really lovely and lemony. Will double the topping amount next time to get a thick top. Your recipes are always my go to. Thank you.
These are the best thing since sliced lemons! Made for the first time today and it wasn’t perfect, but it tasted amazing. My lemon tree is having a bumper crop and I think this may be all I make from them. I will perfect it in time. Thank you – love your recipes Nagi – and Dozer! Of course. 😉
What’s your thoughts on using margarine instead of butter in this recipe (as I’m out of butter)? Or disaster?
Fab – shortbread base has great texture. Found it quite sweet so reduced the sugar in the lemon curd to 190g and it turned out well, though needed to bake for a couple more minutes (though YMMV if your lemons are quite sour I think!)
This recipe is wonderful, my family loved it but my daughter is Coeliac, could I make it with gf flour,?
Made this recipe twice and it is absolutely delicious!! Have tried making many other lemon bar recipes and nearly didn’t try this as I’ve never had success with any Lemon Bar recipe….. but Nagi never fails…… its perfect!! Thanks Nagi 🙂
Just one question, could this recipe be made with Gluten free plain flour to make it GF or what would you suggest?
All I can say is yummy, my baking
tin was to big but we still loved this slice.
So easy and so delicious! Also great as a dessert warmed up and served with vanilla ice cream 🙂
Beautiful!!
anyone make these using the 3 ingredient shortbread recipe?
I’m snacking on one of these babies as i type! i made a slight adjustment to experiment with the crust.( 1 cup flour, 2 tbsp cornstarch, 2 tbsp rice flour and 1/4 cup icing sugar). and i pre baked it for 12 -15 min. Worked out great. Going to get another bar! thanks Nagi!