Creamy Lemon Shortbread Bars
Creamy Lemon Shortbread Bars…a buttery shortbread crust topped with a sweet, tart, creamy lemon filling. To-die-for goodness!
Who else loves lemon! It’s one of my favorite flavors, hands down, and especially when spring comes around. It’s bright and fresh, just like the season, and perfect all through the summer as well. Any kind of lemon recipe just speaks my name, but especially this one, with a delightful shortbread crust and a creamy lemon filling.
Creamy Lemon Shortbread Bars
These make a perfect spring and summer dessert–not only do they taste amazing, but they look so fresh and pretty too! Anytime you want to make an impression, and serve a yummy dessert that doesn’t take a ton of time to make, you need to try these! They’re good enough for company, but casual enough for enjoying at home. Â
I also love making these to give away–they say thank you, hello, congratulations, thinking of you, and happy birthday (and anything else) in the best and yummiest way.
Best of all, it’s a simple, easy-to-make dessert recipe, so if you don’t have a lot of time, this works well. You can even make it the night before if you need to.
The crust is a delightful shortbread made from flour, butter, and pecans or walnuts. If you need to leave the nuts out for allergy reasons, you totally can–it’s still yummy. But if you can leave them in, definitely do–they add a richness of flavor. Â While the crust is baking, the filling mixes up quickly, and can be refrigerated until the crust is cool. Â The top layer is heavy cream beat into whipped cream, and then sprinkled with lemon zest. Â SO yummy! Just refrigerate until ready to serve…if you can wait that long!
Enjoy—it’s a favorite at our house, and I hope it is at your house too!
Creamy Lemon Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 3/4 c. butter, softened
- 1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 package cream cheese
- 1 can, 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
- 3/4 c. thawed lemonade
- 1-8 oz. carton Cool Whip, thawed
- Yellow food coloring, optional
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1/4-1/3 c. powdered sugar
Instructions
- Combine crust ingredients, and press into a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes, then let cool.
- In a large bowl, beat the condensed milk and cream cheese together until smooth. Beat in the lemonade concentrate, and fold in the Cool Whip. If you want to, you can add a drop or two of yellow food coloring, but that's totally optional! When the crust is completely cool, spread this cream cheese mixture on top.
- Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form, then add the powdered sugar. This is really to taste--so start with 1/4 c. and then add a little more if you want to. The dessert already is pretty sweet, so in this case less is probably more.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve, then sprinkle with grated lemon zest!
Kierste Wade is a published author, blogger, and mom to six. With more than 20 years DIY and project experience, she has been sharing ideas on her blog since 2009. Focusing on simple and doable projects, she loves to share attainable ideas for all things home, holidays, and family. Kierste has been featured on Better Homes and Gardens, HGTV, American Farmhouse Magazine (print and online) Taste of Home, Country Living, and more.
