Meyer lemon bars are a wonderful dessert for the springtime or any time that you can get your hands on some fresh lemons! They’re light, bright, and wonderful. Perfect for serving with sweet tea on a hot day!
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This is a great, calming recipe, and we love to make it on lazy weekend days! Strawberry parfaits and these watermelon cupcakes are two other light and refreshing desserts that I also love to make on the weekends.
Main Ingredients
You don’t need a lot of ingredients to make this recipe. Chances are you’ve already got them in the cupboard!
- Eggs: Medium or large is good, they’ll give the bars some structure.
- Lemons: For both liquid and flavor.
- Butter: To bind the base together efficiently.
- Flour: To form the majority of the base and to thicken the topping of the bars.
- White sugar: To sweeten both the base and the topping.
Instructions Overview
Making these bars is really easy, ideal for a relaxed weekend day as we said earlier. To get started, you first need to make the base. Blend together the sugar, flour, and butter before pressing into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. This forms a really rich pastry that’s strong enough to work as a base as well as being crumbly enough to satisfy the crumbly pastry desire that everyone has.
Bake the base in the tin at 350˚F for fifteen to twenty minutes - it should be firm and slightly golden-brown.
Combine the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl until they’re nice and smooth, and pour them over the base. Bake the entire item for another twenty minutes, and then remove it from the oven. Once the bars are cooled, they’ll firm up and be easy to take out of the tin.
Common Questions
They are supposed to be soft and slightly sticky and gooey rather than dry. In order to achieve the perfect texture, make sure you leave these Meyer lemon bars alone to completely set after taking them out of the oven.
You can easily pop them back in the oven if you realize they’re undercooked. However, if you overcook them instead, you’ll have to start the recipe from scratch again!
This can happen if you mix the topping in a metal or aluminum bowl instead of a plastic one. Lemon juice is acidic so it reacts with metal. Occasionally eggs can react with aluminum. So stick with a plastic bowl. Occasionally processed white, granulated sugar can give a slightly metallic flavor as well, but I’ve never had that issue with my Meyer lemon bars.
Priced between $2 and $3 per pound, they are slightly more expensive than regular lemons. However, their amazing flavor means you might like to get them to ensure the tastiest result from these homemade lemon bars.
They’re in season during the holidays, from the middle of November until January. So if you’re looking for an easy bar recipe to make during the festive season, this one is perfect. A word of warning though. Once you’ve discovered how delicious Meyer lemons are, you might never want to use the regular kind again!
They will keep well in a room temperature spot, in an airtight container. The main thing to be concerned about is the base going stale, so make sure that they’re definitely in an airtight container.
This is the trickiest part of making great lemon bars because it’s always quite a challenge to know, for sure, when they are set. You’ll know that they are done when the edges start to turn golden. The filling should have just started to set in the center (and no longer be wobbly) when you take it out of the oven.
You certainly can freeze these Meyer lemon bars! Once the large block has been cut into smaller squares, place each bar onto a baking sheet, and freeze for an hour. Individually wrap each bar in aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and then place it into a large bag or freezer container to freeze completely. Thaw them individually in the refrigerator, and then dust them lightly with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
These bars can be made ahead of time, though it depends on how you’d like to serve them. If you’re happy and comfortable serving them the day after they’ve been baked, then you can certainly make them and store them in an airtight container overnight. If you’d rather serve them fresh but do minimal prep work, then we understand. It would be best to prepare the base in the tin (ready to go in the oven) and prepare the lemon topping separately. Store both of these in the fridge, and then bake following the instructions when you’re ready.
Well, they only really crack for one reason - they got too hot. The reason for this is that they went into an oven that was preheated to too high a temperature, or that they were slightly overbaked. Don’t worry, however, they’ll still be just as delicious if they’re a little cracked!
To be perfectly honest, this dessert stands perfectly well on its own. We’d recommend giving them a gentle dusting of ceiling sugar before serving, but they don’t really need that. The only other thing could be a mug of tea or coffee to cozy up with.
Chopnotch Tips
- Make sure they are completely cool before you remove them from the tin - they can be very tricky to get out if they’re still warm.
- Don’t be afraid to put a little extra butter into the base. It will make the pastry more crumbly, but it will also be a lot more rich and decadent. On the same note, try putting in a dash of salt, it’s sure to give the pastry a wonderful depth of flavor.
- Before adding the bars to the oven for the second time, gently tap the baking tin against the counter - this will remove any air bubbles from the mix, giving you a smoother end consistency
Meyer lemon bars are a bright, rich, and wonderful dessert that we love all year round, not just in lemon season!
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Recipe
How to Make
Meyer Lemon Bars
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Blend together ½ cup sugar, 2 cups flour and 1 cup softened butter in a medium bowl and press into a bottom of 9x13 inch pan (ungreased).
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F until firm and golden, for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Combine the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and pour over the base. Bake for another 20 minutes. Once the bars are cooled, they will firm up.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure they are completely cooled before you remove them from the tin - they can be very tricky to get out if they’re still warm.
- Don’t be afraid to put a little extra butter into the base. It will make the pastry more crumbly, but it will also be a lot more rich and decadent. On the same note, try putting in a dash of salt, it’s sure to give the pastry a wonderful depth of flavor.
- Before adding the bars to the oven for the second time, gently tap the baking tin against the counter - this will remove any air bubbles from the mix, giving you a smoother end consistency
