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Lemon Cheesecake Bars are amazing! These babies are going to become your favorite lemon bar ever!!
Check out these delicious lemon recipes, Delicious Lemon Ice Cream. my favorite Lemon Cream Cake, easy Lemon Drop Cookies
and this unforgettable Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
Today’s recipe for Lemon Cheesecake Bars are a favorite of my family and just about everyone who tries them. It is a not to be missed recipe, so if you like lemon you need to make these bars!
I recently made them for the Tea Party Bridal Shower I hosted because every good tea party should have a good lemon bar. Lemon Cheesecake Bars are not your ordinary lemon bar. They are something special. A layer of cheesecake like filling takes these lemon bars far and above your regular old lemon bar.
How to make Lemon Cheesecake Bars
First, you make a shortbread like base. After baking it, you cover it with a cheesecake layer and bake again.
Next, you add the lemon layer on top. Pour this layer gently! As you will see from my photograph I wasn’t gentle and it caused the cheesecake layer to separate. But they still taste fabulous!
After the final layer is baked give it a nice generous sprinkle of powdered sugar to hide any flaws and just to make it look pretty!
I received this recipe from one of my wonderful blog readers. When Rachel shared it with me, she promised me they would become my new favorite lemon recipe. And boy was she was right. The cheesecake layer makes for a much creamier and yummier lemon bar!
Best Tools for Making Lemon Cream Cheese Bars
Because I love lemons so much and cook and bake with them a lot having the right lemon tools is important.
First – the microplaner. I love this tool. It is a long, small grater type tool. You use it to “zest” a lemon which basically means grating the lemon rind. Fresh lemon zest adds great flavor to recipes.
Second – you will need a lemon juicer. I use this handy little hand juicer – it quickly and easily squeezes all the juice out of the lemon. I got mine for a couple of dollars at Ikea but both of these tools can be found at any kitchen shop or even Target.
You are going to want to use fresh lemon juice, not that fake stuff that comes in the green bottle at the grocery store for the recipes I will share with you so get juicing!
For all of my other favorite kitchen products and tools visit my Amazon Store.
Did you know I wrote a cookbook? Check out the Holiday Slow Cooker Cookbook for 100 delicious recipes.
Lemon Cheesecake Bars Recipe
Lemon Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 3/4 cup butter chilled
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Cheesecake:
- 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp. milk
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Lemon Layer:
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/3 cup flour
Instructions
Crust:
- Preheat oven to 325 F
- Cut butter into pieces.
- In a food processor (or blender on low, pulse setting) Process all ingredients until mixture becomes tiny and fine pieces.
- Sprinkle mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan and press evenly into bottom of pan.
- Bake for 12 minutes and remove from oven.
Cheesecake Layer:
- In medium bowl, blend cream cheese until smooth.
- Then add sugar and mix well.
- Cream together the rest of the ingredients until smooth.
- Pour cheesecake evenly over hot crust. Pour slowly and gently, a little at a time.
- Bake 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 300.
Lemon Layer:
- In a bowl whisk together eggs and sugar until combined well.
- Stir in lemon juice and flour.
- Pour gently and smoothly over semi-baked cheesecake.
- Bake at 300 for 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle powdered sugar over top if desired.
- Cool for an hour and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
Marabelle Tong says
Temperature in recipe is in degree Celsius or Fahrenheit?
Marabelle says
Are the measurements for temperature in Deg Celsius or Fahrenheit?p
Leigh Anne says
Farenheit
Marabelle Tong says
The temperature mentioned is in Fahrenheit or deg Celsius? 🙂
Gail says
I have made these bars a lot and taken them to church functions. I did change a couple of things, which I think made them more lemony. I did lemon extract instead of vanilla. I also added a can of lemon frosting instead of powdered sugar…. OH MY GOD!!! I have been almost run over by ladies and guys who want the recipe… One Guy, who is a friend of ours, says they are DEATH by LEMOM!!! He even called me after his mom died and asked if I would make them for her funeral, of course I said yes… I have given out lots of the recipe to friends with my changes… My daughter who loves lemon says they are to sweet for her with the frosting on top. thanks for sharing this recipe, I found it online and tried it… I never come home with any bars left, they wash my pan!!!
Marge Labman says
I am baking these now. After 27 minutes at 300° , per the recipe, the lemon layer has not set. I’m cooking it at 325° for another 15 minutes.
Vicki says
when you sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Did it ever absorbed into them? When I did, that’s what happened.
Leigh Anne says
Let them cook before sprinkling it on.
Carol says
if substituting regular sugar for the brown sugar, would you use the same measurement?
Leigh Anne says
I have never substituted white for brown in the recipe but it should work fine, you might end up with a crisper cookie base
Alissa Abad says
I just made the lemon cream cheese bars! I am blown away how easy and amazing these are!!!! These are, for sure, going to be a regular in my house! Thanks for sharing!!!!
Trash DeFalco says
I finished the bars last night and as soon as they were chilled, I could not wait till morning to try them!
They were better than I had anticipated, truly fabulous! These will definitely be my ‘go to’ dessert from now on! Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
Leigh Anne says
I am so glad you loved them too – they are heavenly!!
Sandi says
Definitely double the cheesecake layer! I doubled the cheesecake layer and baked it an extra 5 minutes (total of 20 minutes for that layer) so that it formed a skin on top. I had NO trouble with the layers mixing together. Very yummy!