Cream Cheese Lemon Bars are the dessert you never knew you needed, but bake them once, and you’ll never go without them again. Sweet, cream cheesy, lemony, buttery, and so easy!
For more quick desserts, try my recipes for Apple Slab Pie, Easy Lemon Tart, Salted Caramel Pecan Pie Bars, and Cream Cheese Lemon Crumb Cake.
Confession: I’m a lemon dessert lover, Snow-Capped Lemon Cookies, Lemon Bundt Cake, you name it. And a cream cheese lover. (If you’re a cream cheese lover like me, try my Perfect No Bake Cheesecake.) So it only makes sense that I put these two flavors together into one easy dessert, right?
Spring has sprung and with it my mindset has changed somewhat in terms of what flavors and foods I’m in the mood for. Even if the days are somewhat chilly and it’s not quite yet time to start the garden, I’m still thinking about cookouts, picnics, potlucks, and those days when friends stop over for a bit and end up staying through dinner. Those are the best days right?
These classic lemon bars are perfect for those days…well, for any day really! But, if you’re looking for a delicious dessert that isn’t too heavy and uses a lot of pantry and fridge staples, then this is it my friends!
Ingredients:
- Flour
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Butter
- Cream cheese
- Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Powdered sugar
Here’s How You Make It
Did I mention these lemon bars are so easy to make?
- First thing you need to do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 x13-inch pan with foil or parchment paper. Leave plenty of overhang around the edges so that you can lift the bars out of the pan before cutting.
- In a blender or a food processor combine the flour, sugar salt, and butter cubes to make the crust. Cover and pulse to combine the dough into fine crumbs. You can do this with a pastry cutter, fork, or fingers in a large bowl if you prefer.
- Press the crust into your prepared pan and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. While it cooks, turn your attention to the filling.
- To make the filling, combine the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl. Cream together until it’s smooth. Then, mix in the flour, powdered sugar, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla until they are all incorporated into the cream cheese and sugar mixture.
- When the crust is done, spread the cream cheese filling over the crust and put it back into the oven for 30 minutes.
- Let the lemon cream cheese bars cool for about 20 minutes, then cover them and put them in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight to chill. When you’re ready to dive in, lift the foil edges up out of the pan to remove the dessert. Slice into squares, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve.
Do I Need to Refrigerate Lemon Bars?
If you aren’t going to eat all these cream cheese lemon bars right away and you have some leftover (which would be shocking to me that anyone would have leftovers), then you should store them in the fridge. Just put them in a covered container if you’ve already sliced them into squares.
Or, if you know you’ll only be eating a few, you could put the rest back into the pan you cooked them in and cover it with foil and put in the fridge for later.
Does Cream Cheese Freeze Well?
You can easily freeze cream cheese so long as it’s made with full-fat cream cheese. What I like to do is either freeze the whole thing by wrapping the cream cheese lemon bars — pan and all — in plastic wrap then add foil to the top of that to make sure the bars don’t get freezer burn. You can keep them in the freezer for about a month.
Or, you can freeze individual slices of the lemon bars with a shortbread crust. Cut them as instructed, then put the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Put the tray into the freezer to freeze the lemon bars individually. This will take about 6 hours or overnight. When they are frozen, you can take them off the tray and wrap them individually in plastic wrap then put them all in an airtight, freezer-safe container. This way, you can take one out at a time and not eat them all at once.
To thaw, put the pan in the fridge overnight and then cut them as directed. Eat within two days (keeping them in the fridge in between). Once they’re thawed, do not refreeze them.
More Easy Dessert Recipes
- Strawberry Cobbler (the easiest and BEST you’ll ever make – THAT CRUST)
- Easy Apple Crisp
- Lemon Bundt Cake from Scratch
- Cream Cheese Lemon Crumb Cake (that filling. that CRUMB topping. that glaze.)
- Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting (crowd pleaser!)
- Lemon Blueberry Bread
- Super Soft Peanut Butter Cookies (reader favorite!)
Did you make these cream cheese lemon bars? I’d be thrilled if you would give it a rating below!
Cream Cheese Lemon Bars
Ingredients
for the crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter - chilled and cut into small cubes
for the filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese - softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- ¾ cups fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar - plus more for topping
- 6 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 inch pan with foil or parchment with plenty of overhang around the edges to lift the bars out of the pan before cutting.
- Prepare the crust by combining flour, sugars, salt, and butter cubes in a food processor or blender. Cover and pulse until fine crumbs form. (You can also do this with a pastry cutter, fork, or with your fingers in a large bowl.)
- Press crust into prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.
- Prepare the filling by combining cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl. Cream together until smooth. Mix in flour, powdered sugar, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla until completely incorporated.
- Pour filling over crust and return to oven for 30 minutes.
- Allow to cool for about 20 minutes, then cover and transfer chill in the fridge 4 hours or overnight. Lift the foil edges to remove the bars from the pan, slice into squares, sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, and serve.
Delicious!
I added the zest and 2tbs of powdered sugar to the crust as zest to the batter.
For once, an internet recipe that was easy to follow!!! Thank you so much! Most of them you have to scroll FOREVER, and the ingredients are miles away from the directions, and your end up wanting to pull out your hair AND scream by the time you’re through!!! Yours was the opposite, and i’m so grateful! it’s baking now, but i tasted the batter and it tasted divine! i was just going to have a spoonful, but i had THREE, and i think i could have drank it all.
Kudos and thanks to you, Tiffaney.
They really turned out so good! It was my first time attempting something like this, I love to cook but am new to the baking world. I felt as though this recopie was easy to follow! I do have one question, after baking for the instructed temperature & time, I found the outer rows of my lemon bars were more solid after setting and the inner portion was more ‘gooey’. They hold shape but are more mushy. Does this mean I needed to bake maybe 5 minutes longer? They taste great though. Only recommendation would be to add a description of what the texture should turn out like after baking and setting in the fridge, for beginners like me that have no idea.
These are Amazing especially after they have had a day in the refrigerator. The only thing I did a little different was a little less sugar. If u love lemon the tartness was perfect! Will make again🤩😊
Thanks for your feedback!
I just make this i like how citrusy the trst but it is too sweet for me and my family says it is nice but too sweet well we are asian people and sugar is not really included in our daily habit next time i make i will just use one cup of sugar and deduct two eggs because 6 is too much.
Yummy yum yum! I am allergic to chocolate. And it’s really hard for me to find a recipe that is not chocolate that I can eat! I love this recipe it is super easy to make. And is really flavorful! My friend has a lemon tree and gives me lemons quite frequently. So trying this recipe!
I made these exactly like the recipe. They were too tart. I would cut back to 1/2 C lemon juice. Also, i cooked them 20 minutes longer (50 minutes) and they still were not set in the middle.
May 20 2002…I just brought this from the oven and was perfect…..its cooling now. I made it for tomorrow for dessert after lunch. My brother and his wife will be visiting. I love lemon!!
I used a cup of meyer lemon juice and the grated rind of about 2 meyer lemons. Filling needed about 10 more minutes to set. Delicious!
I made these yesterday. They are easy to put together and the result is a creamy filling on a shortbread crust. I did find them a little too sweet for my taste so would cut back on the sugar in the lemon filling. I also found them to be not quite set so I will bake them a little longer next time. With those modifications, this is a keeper.
I’ve made it twice now and the family loves it. I made it as the recipe instructed and added the zest of one lemon as we love lemons.
I made these for the first time and they were delicious! I recommend eating them at room temperature.
Can I make these in a 9 x 9 pan to make them thicker?
They’re pretty thick already as far as lemon bars go – I made the crust extra thick in this recipe. 🙂 I’m not sure how the baking time would need to be adjusted in a 9×9 inch pan.
Do you garnish with the lemon slices as you cut and serve the bars? They look so good in the picture!!!
I cut my thin lemon slices into half-moons and then place them on top of the bars after cutting! 🙂
Can you sub mascarpone cheese for the cream cheese?
I have not tried making that sub, sorry. I can’t say for sure!