Lemon Bars With Graham Cracker Crust

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These lemon bars with graham cracker crust have a perfectly tart, sweet and creamy lemon filling nestled in a buttery graham cracker crust. The perfect dessert for lemon lovers, these easy lemon squares are simple to make, and are great for picnics, bake sales, and more! They also happen to be gluten free and come with a dairy free option too!

These classic lemon bars have a buttery homemade graham cracker crust and are bursting with fresh lemon flavor.

Fresh lemons give me all the spring & summer vibes and make me want to whip up all of my favorite lemon desserts, like my vegan lemon tart, vegan lemon cupcakes, and of course now my new favorite, these creamy lemon squares!

Many lemon dessert bars are made with a shortbread crust, but I love graham cracker crusts in baked goods, so I decided to switch up the classic recipe to make these lemon bars with graham cracker crust!

These make a great summer dessert but they’re great to enjoy anytime, and are perfect to take to a party or get-together. They’re perfectly sweetened and super kid friendly too. There are several variations you can check out below, including a way to make this a gluten free dairy free lemon bars recipe!

👩🏽‍🍳 Why This Recipe Works

• Simple ingredients
• Ready in just 30 minutes
• Gluten free
• Dairy free option
• Kid friendly
• Great for any occasion
• Can be frozen
• Best lemon bars with graham cracker crust ever!

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🥘 Ingredients

You can find all of these ingredients at most grocery stores! For a full list of ingredients and instructions to make these lemon bar bites, see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

For The Crust

• Gluten-Free Graham Crackers: To make this delicious recipe gluten free friendly, I used gluten free graham crackers. Graham crackers are not naturally gluten-free, so you’ll have to specifically buy them gluten-free. But you can use regular graham crackers if you don’t need this recipe to be gluten-free.
• Light Brown Sugar & Melted Butter: Dark brown sugar has twice the amount of molasses in it and more of a rich caramel flavor. Light brown sugar is recommended for this recipe to keep the flavor light and not overbearing. Melted butter is used to combine the graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar for this delicious crust.

Lemon Filling & Topping

• White Sugar & Vanilla: White granulated sugar sweetens up these gluten free lemon squares and counters the tartness of the lemons. Vanilla extract adds more depth, richness and brings out the sweetness of this recipe.
• Tapioca Flour & Gluten Free Flour: Tapioca flour is very fine, not gritty, and helps keep the lemon filling smooth while firming it up. Gluten free flour helps thicken up the lemon filling for these creamy lemon bars with graham cracker crust.
• Large Eggs: Eggs act as a binding agent for these lemon bar bites and the egg yolks especially gives the lemon curd a richer flavor.
• Lemon Juice & Lemon Zest: Fresh regular lemons give this lemon squares with graham cracker crust recipe its bold lemon flavor. And a little lemon zest goes a long way! I absolutely love meyer lemons and recommend using them in this recipe if you can find them!
• (Optional Topping) Powdered Sugar: This ingredient is not part of the lemon filling, and is optional, but powdered sugar adds a touch of soft sweetness and decoration to these lemon graham cracker bars.

🔪 Instructions

Preheat Oven, Prep Graham Crackers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 180 C. Line an 8”x8” square baking dish or cake tin with baking paper, set aside. Add enough graham crackers to make 1 cup of finely ground crumbs to a high speed food processor and blend until finely ground.

Mix Crust Ingredients: Add the crumbs, butter and brown sugar to a mixing bowl, mix until well combined.

Press Crust Into Prepared Baking Pan: Firmly press the press graham cracker mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Create Lemon Mixture: While the graham crust is cooking, whisk the lemon filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until it’s smooth and has no lumps.

Pour Filling Into Base: When the crust has finished cooking and is lightly golden brown, remove from the oven and gently pour the lemon curd filling into the baked crust.

Bake Again: Reduce the oven temperature to 320 degrees F / 160 C. Return the bars to the oven and cook for another 20 minutes. You’ll know the bars are done when the center is no longer jiggly and the outside edges are just starting to turn a light golden color.

Cool At Room Temperature: Remove and cool slightly at room temperature (about 15-20 minutes) transferring to the fridge to cool completely. Chill for at least 5 hours in the fridge (or overnight) before slicing into 16 small squares with a sharp knife. Once chilled, lightly dust the tops of the bars with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Note: These easy lemon bars with graham cracker crust are best served chilled. Keeping them cool will prevent them from getting runny or mushy.

💭 Expert Tips

• To cut these bars into extra clean slices, fill a bowl with warm water, dip the knife in the warm water, wipe it dry, and make one cut. Repeat this process for each cut. Make sure to chill the bars before cutting them.
• To avoid your crust falling apart, make sure your graham cracker crumbs are crushed into super fine crumbs, line your baking dish with parchment paper, and firmly press the base ingredients into the baking dish using the bottom of a measuring cup or the back of a spoon. Finely crushed crumbs + pressing the base firmly together will prevent it from falling apart when cutting or eating. And the parchment paper is key for easy removal and for not breaking the bars accidentally.
• Use fresh lemon juice and fresh lemon zest for the best flavor. Note: Each lemon has about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon zest. 
• Use room temperature eggs and whisk the custard continuously to avoid clumps. Be patient, and continue to whisk until a custard like consistency forms.
• To make sure your lemon filling sets properly, make sure the bars are baked completely (check by shaking the pan slightly when you think the bars are done – you don’t want the filling to jiggle like Jell-O – that means the bars aren’t done). You also want to make sure to allow for at least 5 hours in the fridge so the bars have time to set before slicing.
• Use the spoon & level method for measuring. When measuring your flour, use the spoon and level method for accuracy (spoon the flour into your measuring cup, then level it with the back of a knife).
• Dust with powdered sugar right before serving. Make sure the bars are completely cool before dusting them with powdered sugar to prevent condensation from forming on top.

📖 Variations

• No Bake Lemon Bars: No bake lemon curd bars are made with lemon pudding and shortbread cookies. These are a great option for summer when you don’t want to use the oven.
• Low Sugar Lemon Bars: These bars can be made low sugar by using granulated monk fruit or stevia instead of regular sugar. The only thing is, you’ll have to taste as you go, since monk fruit has a different sweetness level than sugar. Alternatively, you can make healthy lemon bars by cutting the total amount of regular sugar in this recipe in half and just use half the amount of sugar. Keep in mind that the bars will be more tart than sweet if you do this!
• Dairy Free Lemon Bars: To make these dairy free, all you need to do is use vegan butter instead of regular butter.
• Vegan Lemon Bars Recipe: These can easily be made into vegan gluten free lemon bars by making the crust of the bars without butter and using vegan butter instead. For the filling, you’d use full fat coconut milk or canned coconut cream to make eggless lemon bars. I’d recommend trying this recipe!

❓Recipe FAQs

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