How to make lemon cream cheese bars

Lemon-flavored treats always seem to put a little pep in our step. And pairing that citrus snap with rich cream cheese in a simple recipe like these lemon cream cheese bars produces a winning dessert that’s easily enjoyed any time of year.

The lemony dessert recipe from All Recipes user Pamela Souza LeBlanc is a “fan favorite,” according to the cooking site. It has a star rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars from more than 270 All Recipes users.

To make these, you’ll only need a handful of ingredients: crescent roll dough, lemons, cream cheese, sugar and butter. Slow Cooker Recipes posted a photo of the results on Facebook.

To make the lemon cream cheese bars, you’ll put one layer of crescent roll dough flat in a baking dish. Beat lemon zest and lemon juice together with cream cheese and sugar and spread on top of the dough. Another layer of crescent dough goes on top and is covered in butter and sugary lemon zest before baking. Once the bars are cooked, they chill in the fridge for a few hours to set.

All Recipes included some top tips from users for improving upon the original recipe for the lemon cream cheese bars. One suggested baking the bottom crust first to make sure it isn’t doughy after adding the other two layers. Another put an egg wash on each layer of dough. Other suggested tweaks included using phyllo dough or puff pastry instead of the crescent dough. And there’s a suggestion for a version using reduced-fat cream cheese and Splenda.

All Recipes user Maggie13 also created a milder lemon taste with only one lemon’s worth of juice but two lemon’s worth of zest. She also added a little vanilla extract to the lemon cream cheese mixture.

If you’re looking for even more lemon and cream cheese bar dessert recipe ideas, Creme de la Crumb has one with a crust made from flour, sugar, salt and butter that’s crumbed together in a food processor or with a pastry cutter.

The Creative Bite made a lemon cheesecake swirl bar that uses a premade sugar cookie mix for the crust. On top of that goes the cream cheese layer with a lemon layer on top. She swirls a knife through the top two layers to give a marbled effect.

A crunchy graham cracker crust makes up the bottom of The Country Cook’s creamy lemon bars. These bars have a lemon filling made with fresh lemon juice and zest, egg yolks and condensed milk, which is then topped with whipped cream.

And if you’re keeping keto, Farm Life Do It Yourself created a low carb, high-fat version of a lemon cheesecake bar. The recipe has an almond flour crust topped with a lemon cheesecake layer topped by a tart lemon layer.

Simplemost has shared other lemon cream cheese ideas in the past, including a lemon cream cheese frosting, a lemon layer cake with lemon cream cheese buttercream, and lemon blueberry cheesecake bars.

Do you like this twist that adds a creamy and flaky component to the traditional lemon bar? What dessert gets you in a good mood?