These creamy lemon bars are a twist on the classic lemon bar, and it’s more of a little lemon cheesecake bar. With the addition of cream cheese, they’re creamier than a standard lemon bar, but also not quite as cheesy and rich as a traditional cheesecake. They are super easy to whip up and have bright lemon-y flavor. They make a great ending to a simple meal, or a perfect treat for a party or gathering- I’ve also made them with lime and they’re delicious!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Crust
- Nilla wafers – The crust is made with Nilla wafer cookies. Name brand or store bought will both work. A lot of crusts are comprised of simply cookie crumbs and butter, but this one has some dry ingredients added to it, like flour and sugar. So you get the tender crumb from the flour, but the amazing cookie-ness from the Nilla wafers.
- All-purpose flour
- Brown sugar
- Butter – This recipe was developed using real butter, so that is the best choice. Here’s a great tip for cutting in butter to create a flaky crust: use a cheese grater! If I’m making something like pie crust or biscuits I use a more traditional method, but for something like this, a cheese grater works perfectly. Popping your butter in the freezer for a few minutes before grating makes it even easier.
Filling and Serving
- Cream cheese –
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Lemon (or lime) peel and juice – You will need both the juice and the zest of your lemons or limes. I don’t recommend bottled juice or dried zest. Fresh is best!
- Baking powder
- Powdered sugar – For dusting before serving.
Helpful Tools
- Foil or parchment – Lining your pan with foil or parchment makes it easy to lift the entire batch out of the pan at once and cut all the way through the edges.
How To Make Creamy Lemon Bars
- Prepare crust by either chopping or grating cold butter into dry ingredients and then combining until it looks like crumbly wet sand.
- Place mixture into a parchment-lined 8×8 pan and press down evenly. Pre-bake your crust while you prepare the filling.
- For the filling, beat up cream cheese and sugar. You’ll also add in some eggs and vanilla and a tiny bit of flour and then fresh lemon juice and zest
- Pour the batter into your partially baked crust and pop it back in the oven.
- After they are baked, cooled, and chilled you can pull the foil right out for easy cutting. Slice them into bars and sprinkle extra zest on top. You can also sprinkle them with powdered sugar, but just keep in mind the bars are moist so the sugar melts into them quickly. I do it right before serving just to make them look pretty.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store cooled lemon bars, tightly covered, in the refrigerator and enjoy within 5-7 days for best results.
- Lemon bars can freeze well for up t 3-4 months. Wrap bars tightly in plastic wrap and freeze, then transfer frozen bars to a freezer storage bag. Thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make these creamy lemon bars ahead of time?
You bet! These bars honestly get better with time. Feel free to make them a day ahead of time through the refrigeration step. When ready to serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar, garnish with zest, cut, and serve.
Creamy Lemon {or Lime!} Bars
Tart and creamy, these sweet lemon bars are almost a cross between traditional lemon bars and cheesecake bars. Delicious with lemon or lime!
Servings squares
Equipment
Ingredients
Crust
- 20 Nilla Wafers finely crushed
- ½ cup flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar firmly packed
- ¼ cup butter cold, no substitutions
Filling
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese 1/3-less fat cream cheese is okay
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature; just place eggs in a bowl of warm water for about 10 mins
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons lemon peel grated, divided
- ¼ cup lemon juice fresh highly recommended
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
Serving
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Spray lightly with non-stick spray and set aside.
- In a bowl, combine Nilla Wafer crumbs, ½ cup flour and the brown sugar. Chop butter into small pieces and then cut into crumb mixture with a pastry blender. If you don’t have a pastry blender, just use 2 knives, or even your fingers to break up the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 min.
- While crust is cooking, beat cream cheese and granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, vanilla, 2 tablespoons flour, and baking powder; mix well. Blend in 1 tablespoon lemon zest and lemon juice and then pour mixture over crust.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. These bars improve with time. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and remaining 2 tablespoons grated lemon peel just before cutting into squares to serve.
- Store leftover squares in refrigerator.
Notes
- Recipe was adapted from Kraft.
- Servings and nutritional information was adapted for 16 squares, but the squares can be cut bigger or smaller depending on desired size.
- Store cooled lemon bars, tightly covered, in the refrigerator and enjoy within 5-7 days for best results.
- Lemon bars can freeze well for up t 3-4 months. Wrap bars tightly in plastic wrap and freeze, then transfer frozen bars to a freezer storage bag. Thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 102kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 28mg, Sodium: 69mg, Potassium: 31mg, Fiber: 0.4g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 120IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 13mg, Iron: 0.4mg
Calories: 102kcal
Cost: $5
Did You Make This Recipe?Snap a picture, and hashtag it #ourbestbites. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @ourbestbites!
Questions & Reviews
I’ve made these (lime version) several times now-they came out great, family and company loved them. I use 1/2 fresh (persian) lime juice and 1/2 (bottled) key lime juice to make up the 1/4 cup called for in the recipe. I zested the persian limes for the garnish, didn’t bother with the powdered sugar.
Oh goodness but these were delicious made with limes my neighbor gifted me with. Yes, I shared. So very good. these will be made often!
Our family loves these bars!! Just wondering if you could freeze them? We are going camping soon and I wanted to make them before hand.
I’m not sure Kelly, you’ll have to experiment (and let us know!)
I took the lime variant of this recipe to a dessert contest at work and won Best In Show. Thought I’d pass that along and thank you for the recipe. I did make one modification, though. In my test batch the crust was too hard, so I halved the amount of brown sugar that went into it so there was less there to caramelize.
I just made these for a work treat and they were a gigantic hit!! So delicious! I made a double batch in a 9×13″ pan, lined with non-stick foil. (No clean up!!)I used both fresh lime juice and bottled key lime juice. The only question I have for the author is whether or not there is supposed to be vanilla in it. The list of ingredients does not list vanilla and vanilla is not used in the instructions. But in her commentary, the author mentions adding vanilla, so I added a few drops. I figured it couldn’t hurt. But I would like to know the correct recipe. Thanks for sharing!!
These were SO good! Definitely going up there towards the top of my favorite desserts list. The whole family loved them. I couldn’t stay away from them!
I am making lemon bars for a friend and don’t have a recipe – her favorite dessert is lemon bars. Would you recommend this recipe or the “Glazed Lemon Bars”?
OMG…these are making my mouth water….YUM!
Tried and these are amazing! Pretty much stuck to the recipe and use whole wheat pastry flour to up the ‘health’ factor. Cut back on the sugar a bit but these were sooo tasty. And they do definitely improve with age…don’t think the pan is going to last through the night!
For the longest time I have been looking for a lemon bar that comes close to one that I had when I was younger. These are so good! Thank you! Thank You! I can’t wait to make them with lime….has anyone tried orange?