I don’t know if it’s the sweet, tart, lemony glaze or if the proportions are just different enough from other lemon bar recipes or if the baking time is just a little shorter (thus avoiding the horror of overcooked eggs–seriously, stuff nightmares are made of!), but these are not only my favorite classic Lemon Bars, but the only classic lemon bars that I’ll eat. They have a delicious crust and the filling is not overly eggy. I will always eat way more of these than I need to, so if my local friends and neighbors suddenly find lemon bars on their doorsteps, you know where they came from!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Crust
- All-purpose flour
- Powdered sugar – Powdered sugar gives the crust a light, crumbly texture.
- Butter – Always use real butter if you can. You will want your butter to be nice and cold, straight from the fridge, so you can cut it into the flour and powdered sugar to create a light, flakey crust.
Filling
- Eggs – Make sure you set them out ahead of time to reach room temperature before making the filling. If you forget, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water while you gather your other ingredients.
- Lemon juice – This is no place for bottled juice! Use fresh lemon juice from ripe lemons!
- Baking powder
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
Glaze
- Powdered sugar
- Lemon juice – Again, freshly squeezed only!
How to Make Glazed Lemon Bars
- You’ll start of by cutting some cold butter into a bit of flour and powdered sugar. I find the easiest way to do this is to grate the butter with a cheese grater directly into the dry ingredients.
- Press that mixture gently into a baking pan and pop it in the oven to bake.
- While the crust is baking, mix up some room temperature eggs, lemon juice, flour, sugar, and baking powder. You’ll want to use an electric mixer here to make sure the mixture is well-blended and frothy.
- Pour that mixture right onto the hot crust and put the pan back in the oven. Bake until lightly golden brown on top.
- Let the bars cool completely and then mix up a quick, tart glaze of freshly-squeezed lemon juice and powdered sugar. Spread evenly over the bars and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting into squares and serving.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store leftover lemon bars in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
- If you’re making these ahead of time, wait to glaze them until a few hours before serving time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! Lime bars are divine.
If you need lots of these lemon bars, I recommend making multiple batches as the baking time is tested for a single pan. You could certainly bake two pans at once in the oven, though. I’d just make sure they’re evenly spaced on the same oven rack to ensure even cooking.
Yes! They actually taste the best on day two, in my opinion. If making these for an event I would make them up to 24 hours ahead of time. You may want to glaze the day of serving for best results.
Glazed Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour lightly spooned into the measuring cup and leveled with a knife
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened to room temp
Filling
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice strained of pulp and seeds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white sugar
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Lightly spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. Whisk together the flour and powdered sugar and then cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is crumbly. Lightly press into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden around the edges. Remove from oven.
- During the last few minutes of the shortbread’s baking time, mix the eggs, lemon juice, flour, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed for three minutes. The mixture should be frothy and very, very pale yellow. Pour the mixture over the warm crust and then return the pan to the oven for another 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top. You might want to check the bars at 17-18 minutes to make sure the top isn’t getting too dark.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely. When the bars are cool, whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth and then gently spread over the bars. Refrigerate for at least two hours and then cut into squares before serving. Makes about 36 bars.
Notes
- Store leftover lemon bars in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
- If you’re making these ahead of time, wait to glaze them until a few hours before serving time.
Nutrition
Questions & Reviews
I made these a week or so ago and they were really good. I typically make the kind with lemon curd on top which is nice and tart and creamy. These will be my fall back and easy version. 🙂
I totally have the same problem with recipes that are overly eggy. I will definitely have to try these. Thanks! 🙂
I made the glazed lemon bars today and they are fantastic. I love that they are not tart and real lemony. They are more creamy. Once it cooled down, the sides crumbled and stayed raised around the edges of the middle part. So the edges are higher than the rest. Any suggestions as to why the edges did not sink down with the middle. I’m hoping next time I make them they will all be flat without the crumbly raised edges. Thanks for this recipe. It will be my go to lemon bar recipe now!
DELICIOUS! tastes just like lemon mirage pie, only in a bar! thanks for sharing!
These looked so good, I had to make them! So last night, I set up camp in the kitchen and had at it. But mine didn’t turn out as pretty as yours did. Maybe I beat the filling too long? The top kind of looked like meringue… and it started to get brown around 17 minutes, so I took it out… and it smelled like lemon meringue pie which I am not a fan of… after a few minutes, I noticed that under this meringue crust, was liquid! So I popped them back in the oven for about 10 more minutes and put foil over the top… not sure if they turned out that great since they are still in my fridge. Do you know what could have caused this? did I do something wrong?
I made these the other night for our teachers’ meeting and boy, were they ever a hit!
I just made these tonight and they turned out great! They won over my anti-lemon husband 🙂 Thanks for another fabulous recipe!
I made these up last saturday. They were great! Everyone loved them. Thanks.
I don’t like anything with glazes… I don’t like the “mouth-feel” of them. Do you have any suggestions? Do you think I could just sprinkle powdered sugar on them like regular ol’ lemon bars?
Yeah, I’d probably just sprinkle them with powdered sugar and lemon zest. It should be fine! 🙂
Oh my gosh…. thank you for a such a WONDERFUL recipe.
I made it for a BBQ on Sunday and everyone raved it was so delicious. Since there were no leftovers, I decided to make it again on Monday.. for the same group of people. No one complained it was the same dessert. In fact, they devoured it. Again, I came home with an empty pan. My sister in law who doesn’t like desserts, declared that this is her FAVORITE dessert!!
Thanks again for the delicious recipe!