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Meyer Lemon Bars

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Meyer lemon bars are a bright taste of summer, with a shortbread crust and deliciously tangy filling. These easy lemon bar recipe will be part of your baking repertoire for years to come.

lemon bars stacked on plate

This recipe comes to me from my friend, Amy. She’s been making Meyer lemon bars for our summertime concerts in the park for a long time. (This post was originally posted on January 31, 2012, and has been updated to contain nutritional information. As an Amazon Affiliate, I receive a commission on qualifying purchases.)

When Spencer and I moved into our first house in Pasadena, 27 years ago, we had several fruit trees, including this odd lemon-orange kind of tree. I had really wanted a grocery store lemon tree, with firm skinned lemons for zesting. I soon found out what we had was a Meyer lemon tree, instead of the Eureka, “grocery store”, variety.

Meyer Lemons

Meyer lemons

A few years after that, the Meyer lemon craze took off and people back East were paying ridiculous amounts of money for a single lemon. I got so used to the super juicy, sweet Meyer, that when we moved to our new house 21 years ago, I had to plant a Meyer lemon tree, even though we already had a huge Eureka tree.

Eureka lemons

Eureka lemons

What’s the difference between Meyer Lemons and Eureka lemons?

The difference between the two is easy to discern. A Meyer lemon is a hybrid and has thinner, deep yellow skin, that almost looks like an anemic orange. (It’s a cross between a Mandarin and a lemon.) Its juice is sweeter and it yields more juice. A Eureka is more common lemon, easier to zest, with thicker skin, but yields less juice. It’s the one you are accustomed to seeing in the grocery store. I think it’s also much prettier!

Eureka and Meyer lemons, ready to juice

Eureka and Meyer (far right) lemons, ready to juice  

When do Meyer lemons ripen?

While we usually think of lemons as “summer” fruits, Meyer lemons reach their peak during the cooler months, from November through March. While Eurekas are available year round, their season is from late winter to early summer. “Bearrs” lemons pick up where the other two varieties leave off and are most plentiful from July to December. Meyer lemons don’t do well in the cold, so grow primarily in California. For more about Meyer lemons, including caring or them, click on Everything You Need To Know About Meyer Lemons.

horizontal lemon bars

How to store Meyer lemons

The thicker skinned Eureka lemons will last a long time on the counter, but Meyer lemons don’t seem to last as long. I’m sure it’s because they have thinner skin. When I get more Meyer lemons than I know I’ll be able to use within a week, I prefer to refrigerate them.

Can you use any kind of lemon juice in these lemon bars?

Yes! This recipe will work with any kind of lemon juice. But bear in mind that these lemon bars are not quite as sour as traditional lemon bars because the juice is naturally not as acidic. If you prefer a tart lemon bar, you can adjust the amount of sugar and add less.

How do you store lemon bars?

Lemon bars will last several hours out of the fridge, making them perfect for picnics or potlucks. If you’re not serving or eating them until the next day, it’s best to refrigerate them.

lemon bars on cutting board

Tips for making these lemon bars

Make sure all the ingredients are room temperature. This is a good rule in general when baking.

Weigh ingredients. A baking scale is very inexpensive and will guarantee success. This scale is under $15 and has over 88,000 4 star reviews.

Juicing the lemons. While an electric juicer is nice, this little hand held juicer is very inexpensive.

Line the glass baking dish with parchment. When the bars are done, you can easily lift them out for easy cutting.

shortbread crust

Pre-bake the shortbread crust just until barely golden.

prefaced crust

Don’t cut the bars right away. Let them cool completely.

If not serving them right away, wait until just before serving to dust with powdered sugar.

I like smaller portions, so this recipe, baked in an 8″ x 8″ baking dish yields 16 bars but of course, you can make larger servings.

Garnish with very thin wedges of Meyer lemon if desired.

lemon bars

Love lemon? This Lemon Posset is one of the easiest desserts ever! Lemon is the main ingredient in this Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Feta. Lemon Roasted Chicken

lemon bars close up

Meyer Lemon Bars

Cynthia
Lemon bars
5 from 11 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 45 mins
Total Time 55 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 16
Calories 155 kcal

Ingredients
  

Crust

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (4.5 ounces)
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (2.3 ounces)
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • pinch of kosher salt (omit if using salted butter)

Filling

Instructions
 

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line pan an 8"X 8" glass baking dish with parchment.
  • Cream butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy. Add flour, and mix just until blended. Pat into baking dish. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until barely golden
  • In the same mixing bowl, blend filling ingredients together. 
  • Pour onto baked crust and return to oven for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The bars will continue to set after removing from oven. Cool completely. Cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar just before serving. Garnish with very thin slices of Meyer lemon wedges.
  • (To double batch, bake in a 13"X 9" pan)

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 155kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 2gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 9mgPotassium: 37mgFiber: 1gSugar: 16gVitamin A: 207IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 12mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Tangy Meyer Lemon Bars with shortbread crust.

Tangy Meyer Lemon Bars with shortbread crust.

cynthia

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Comments

  1. Amy says

    Wow! I’m honored! I’ve never see my lemon bars looking so beautiful…thank you for the tribute. I’ll have to try making them with the meyer lemons!

    Reply

  8. cristina says

    I’m with you about not understanding why citrus is associated w/summer when their harvest season is in the winter. I didn’t realize it until I had my own citrus trees (also happily have both a Eureka and Meyers). This is a tasty recipe and makes good use of a Meyers! 😉

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      when you grown your own fruits and veggies, you definitely have a different perspective. It drives me crazy when my husband buys tomatoes in the winter…I’d just rather not eat one then have an out of season tomato.

      Reply

    • Cynthia says

      Kimberly, I’m fortunate enough to have both meyer and eureka trees! Both citrus have their advantages in flavor, depending on your mood!

      Reply

  19. nannyjt says

    wondering if anybody has used graham cracker crust in place of the original to make a more fibrous texture. I think baking crust and then putting liquid over it to 2nd bake tends to make crust mushy and not appetizing.

    Reply

  20. Ivy says

    Hi. I live in Hawaii and been having a hard time finding good lemons. They usually don’t have very much juice. If using concentrate? How much would I have to use for a double recipe? REALLY LOVE LEMON BARS…

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      I am not sure. I’ve never used a lemon concentrate before. Are you talking about the bottled kind? I’ve actually never used it before as we have a lemon tree. I’ll bet the bottle will give quantities for real to bottled lemon juice.

      Reply

  22. Nancy Rossini says

    I found the crust to be too dry, crumbly & wouldn’t hold together unlike lemon bars I’ve made in the past. After checking the recipe I usually use, the powdered sugar was half of what you called for. Why use more sugar if you don’t have to is my motto. It also did not have flour in the filling (which I can taste). The filling was runny too. Sorry, I wanted to like these, but will go back to my old recipe.

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      Hi Nancy, so sorry they did not work for you. I’ve been making them for years using this friend’s recipe and they’ve always turned out! Powdered sugar has corn starch in it, which could be why your filling was too runny! I am totally on team “less sugar”, you can also substitute swerve powdered sugar if you are really watching your sugar intake.

      Reply

    • Cynthia says

      Hi Lana,
      I’ve gone ahead and separated the crust and the filling. The powdered sugar is for the crust. Let me know if it makes more sense now. Thank you,
      Cynthia

      Reply

      • Lana says

        Thanks for the clarification and the quick response. I made it the other way cause I’m so used to mixing granulated sugar with butter but wanna do it again the right way, to see the difference, even though the first time was pretty delicious! Thank you!

        Reply

        • Cynthia says

          Hi Lana,
          Sorry for the confusion. Your question made me go back and clarify for others as well. I also updated the nutritional information. Thank you! Cynthia

          Reply

  24. Bendetta says

    Hi,

    I just wanted to stop by and say I tried the recipe because it called for Meyer Lemons and is NEVER heard or seen an orange lemon before so I was delighted when I saw a recipe for it. I must agree with Nancy though. My bars were running after I baked fir 25 minutes so I returned to over another 10 minutes and they still were too soft in texture. So I then returned them for another 35 and they were perfect (thickly gelled looking) in texture. I’m wondering if this might be due to my glass container. . . Not sure

    I can hardly wait to try these as I’ve always loved lemon bars and now I can make them myself. I’m going to experiment with later, if all goes well with these and make them gluten free!

    Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  25. Bendetta says

    Hi,

    I just wanted to stop by and say I tried the recipe because it called for Meyer Lemons and I’d NEVER heard of or seen an orange-lemon before at the grocers and decided to pickup one. So I was delighted when I actually saw a recipe for it. I must agree with Nancy though. My bars were runny after I baked for the first 25 minutes so I returned to over for another 10 minutes and they were still too soft and hadn’t set. But I hadn’t realized this until having let them set out for almost half an hour to 45 minutes. So I then returned them to the oven for another 35 minutes and they were perfect inside (thickly gelled) in texture. I’m wondering though, if this was due to me using a glass container. . . not sure.

    I first had written 9/26 that I could hardly wait to try these as I’ve always loved lemon bars and now I can make them myself. But it’s now 9/27 and I have tried them and they are really delicious. My edges are super dry but I’m thinking that’s because of all the cooking but it still has a wonderful buttery taste.

    I’m going to experiment with the recipe later since this went very well and try making some gluten-free. I’m sure I can with some tweaking (using gluten-free flour in place of regular flour).

    Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      Hmm Bendetta, I’m not sure. I’ve made these dozens of times and used that baking time/temp. I’ve never had to bake them that much longer though. The only thing I can think of is that I didn’t write specifically how MUCH meyer lemon juice to use.
      I will troubleshoot them again and measure out the juice. Hope that helps. And YES! I’d need to make a gluten free version!

      Reply

  27. Claudia says

    5 stars
    Best recipe I’ve had so far! I received so many compliments and recipe requests. This is a great recipe and it is easy! The crust turns out perfectly and is a great balance of crust and Lemon curd!

    Reply

  28. Mike says

    5 stars
    Wow, these lemon bars are truly amazing! I’ve harvested Meyer lemons from a tree where I’m staying this winter and made the bars three times so far in three weeks!

    One interesting observation is the variety in the size of the lemons produced and that may be why others require longer baking. This tree offers lemons the size of grapefruits down to the size of mandarin oranges. That offers a whole lot of variety in the volume of juice produced.

    Thanks again for the fantastic recipe!

    Reply

  29. Rachel says

    My son’s girlfriend has celiac disease. I want to try this recipe with gluten free flour. Would it be a 1 to 1 ratio or do you recommend a particular flour substitute? Thanks

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      Hi Rachel,if you buy a good gf flour, it should be 1 to 1. If she’s a celiac and you’re planning on doing a bit more baking, OR if you’d like to give her a little gift, make her a gluten free flour blend. Follow this post for my gf almond pound cake. I post a link to the Art of Gluten Free Baking. She has a flour blend, that to me, is nearly indistinguishable from regular flour.https://whatagirleats.com/gluten-free-almond-pound-cake/

      Reply

  33. Jennifer W says

    5 stars
    Simple recipe and everyone loved these! They didn’t last more than a day! I recommend using Meyer lemonade if you can, we had some fresh from our tree outside which made these another level!

    Reply

  34. Ginny says

    5 stars
    I added some lemon juice to the crust recipe. I love the taste and consistency of the bars. It is a real winner and I shared with friends!!!

    Reply

  37. Pam says

    You say in the beginning if you like your lemon bars more tart, DON’T adjust the amount of sugar. So what do you add to make them more tart?

    Reply

  38. joanne clemons says

    5 stars
    Made this recipe with 2 Meyer lemons that my son brought back from a trip to San Diego. I don’t know if we can even buy such lemons in Maine where we live so this was a special treat. I don’t own a 8×8 glass pan so I used a metal one which worked fine. Delicious bars, tart but yet not too much so. And the shortbread crust is yummy as well.

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      Aww! So glad you found Meyers! You can get them around the country, but outside of california, you’ll have to go to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.

      Reply

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