Description

Sweet and tangy Meyer lemon brown butter bars make the best treat! You’ll love these easy lemon bars with a generous dusting of powdered sugar.

Ingredients

Crust

3/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour, sifted
pinch of salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 Tbsp fresh Meyer lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
powdered sugar, for dusting

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F and line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
Make the crust: Cook butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until it foams, turns clear, and then turns a medium brown, about 5 minutes. Pour browned butter into a large mixing bowl and let cool for 5 minutes.
Add sugar, vanilla, and salt; whisk in until smooth. Fold in flour until incorporated.
Press dough evenly into bottom of prepared baking pan. Bake the crust for 22 to 24 minutes, until the top is set and the edges are golden.
Make the filling: When the crust is almost finished baking, make the filling. Sift together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, Meyer lemon zest, and juice until smooth and fully incorporated.
Reduce oven temperature to 325°F and slowly pour filling over hot crust. Carefully return pan to oven and continue baking until filling is firm, 22 to 25 minutes. Remove bars from the oven and cool for 1 hour on a wire rack, then chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
To serve, carefully lift parchment and place bars on a cutting board. Cut into squares with a sharp knife and dust squares with powdered sugar just before serving.

Notes

Brown butter: Check out my full step-by-step recipe tutorial.

Lemons: Use fresh Meyer lemon zest and juice for the best citrus flavor! Meyer lemons are sweeter than regular lemons – if you don’t have Meyer lemons and want to make these bars with regular lemons, increase the sugar in the filling to 1 cup.

To freeze lemon bars: Once the bars are sliced (skip the powdered sugar topping), arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until firm, 1-2 hours. Once the bars are frozen, wrap individually in plastic wrap and store them in a freezer bag up to 2 months. Thaw the bars overnight in the refrigerator, and dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Double the recipe: This recipe easily doubles for a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Simply double the ingredients and bake as directed (the baking time will remain the same).