Ready in just around 15 minutes, these lemon bars are the perfect summer dessert to treat yourself to! Go ahead and give them a shot!
Jump to:
Summer is here, and it is the perfect time to experiment with different recipes, and if you’ve got a sweet tooth to satisfy, here’s the perfect recipe to try out. These lemon bars are ready super quick and are the perfect easy dessert to whip up when you want to treat yourself.
What I love the most is the fact that you don’t really need any fancy ingredients to make them. Just a boxed cake mix and a few other pantry staples are what you really need. Are you ready to go ahead and give this a try? Scroll down and read through these quick tips and tricks as well.
Can I Use Another Cake Mix?
If you don’t have lemon cake mix, you can definitely use a basic vanilla cake mix too. The only thing you’ll need to do in this case is to add some extra lemon juice and lemon zest into the mix so that the bars have that perfect punch of flavor that you need.
You can also add in a couple of drops of lemon essence if you want to.
What if I Don’t Have Baking Powder?
Practically every dessert recipe that you look up calls for a leavening agent. A leavening agent is what helps the mixture rise and become light and airy, as opposed to being dense and flat. That’s exactly why baking powder is an absolute must for this recipe. Without it, your lemon bars might turn out flat and not fluffy and light the way you want them to be.
Can I Store it For Later?
These lemon bars are an excellent recipe to make and store for later. You can make these in a big batch and serve them the next day for a little get-together you’re hosting, or just enjoy them yourself at your own pace whenever you want to.
To store them the right way, first, cut them into squares and then place them in a flat airtight container. If you’re layering them one over the other, place a sheet of cling wrap or paper towel between each layer, so that the lemon bars don’t end up sticking to each other.
What Other Toppings Can I Use?
What I love the most about these bars is that they have a nice, subtle lemony flavor that pairs well with a ton of other ingredients and flavor bases. If you’re not too keen on the simple icing sugar topping, here are a few other creative ideas to try out.
- You can top the lemon bars with some blueberry compote or fresh blueberries.
- Don’t have blueberries? Some sliced strawberries can taste great when paired with these bars too!
- Got desiccated coconut or coconut flakes? They can turn into an excellent topping for these bars.
- You can also try topping these bars with a couple of mint leaves.
- And of course, you can never go wrong with some whipped cream!
Loved how easy this recipe turned out to be? Here are some more fun recipes to try your hands at this summer!
Lemon Bars
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pkg lemon cake mix
- 3 eggs divided
- ⅓ c shortening
- ½ c sugar
- ⅓ c lemon juice
- 2 tsp grated lemon peel
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- confectioner's sugar to dust on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Combing cake mix, one of the eggs, and shortening in bowl and beat on low speed with electric mixer till crumbs form.
- Keep 1 cup in reserve and put the rest of the mixture into an ungreased 9x13 pan.
- Bake 15 minutes till lightly browned.
- Combine the other 2 eggs, regular sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel, baking powder, and salt in bowl.
- Beat on medium speed with electric mixer till light and foamy. Pour mixture over hot crust and sprinkle rest of crumb mixture over the top.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Let cool completely and sprinkle with Confectioners's sugar on top.
- Cut into bars and serve. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply