Enjoy the tangy, sweetness of homemade lemon curd sandwiched between buttery crumbles with these Lemon Crumble Bars.
I’m slightly obsessed with lemon. And these bars are bursting with lemon flavor. The lemon curd in the middle is creamy and tart. Which is the perfect complement to the buttery crumble that is used to sandwich it in. Just thinking about these lemon crumble bars is making my mouth start to water.
The best part about these bars? They’re simple to make. I made mine with Homemade Lemon Curd. I love making the curd using Meyer Lemons. If you’ve never used Meyer Lemons before then you are definitely missing out. They are the best for baking, they have a slight sweetness to the juice, plus they are just bursting with juice! When juicing lemons it’s best to have them at room temperature, give them a slight roll on the counter to soften them up a bit, and the juice will literally just pour out of these guys.
Lemon Crumble Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter , melted
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1½ cup flour
- 1 cup lemon curd
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for about 1 minute until completely melted.
- Remove from the microwave, add the sugars and stir to combine.
- Add in the flour and stir. Mixture will be dry and crumbly. Set aside about 3/4 of a cup of the crust/crumble topping.
- Spoon the remaining crust mixture into a greased 9×9 baking pan. Distribute the crust mixture evenly through the baking pan and press down with a spoon so that it forms the crust.
- Add the cup of lemon curd on top of the crust, and sprinkle the top with the remaining crumble mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for approximately 15-20 minutes. Place into the refrigerator for approximately 1 hour to further set the bars prior to cutting and serving.
- Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to serve. Enjoy!
For years these bars have been my go-to treat to take to a gathering. Super easy and always a hit, I’ve made them with various jams and while Ollalieberry was amazing, Meyer lemon is still my fave. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
This recipe knocked my socks off! I don’t often leave reviews but felt compelled to leave one for this recipe because there are a few negative reviews and I wanted to balance those out. I was a little nervous before starting because some of the earlier reviews said the crust was hard, the baking time was off or it was too sweet/not sweet enough. I made some changes but overall followed the basic recipe. I used my own tried & true lemon curd recipe. I wanted a fairly tall and substantial bar so I used an 8 x 8 pan instead of 9 x 9. Because my husband loves shortbread style crust and anything with a crumble topping, To maximize the height of the bars, I increased the flour and butter by 1 1/2 (3/4 cup butter & 2 1/4 cups flour) but did not increase the amount of the sugars (it wasn’t too sweet and provided a nice balance to the sweet-tart curd). I also added a pinch of salt to the dough. After mixing the dough I reserved about one cup for the crumble topping. I started checking the bars at 20 minutes and ended up baking them for 35 minutes total, removing them when they were light golden like the picture. They are fantastic and received rave reviews from everyone. I will make this recipe again and again.
Super easy recipe but the base was way too sweet for me. I could only eat one bar and so much sugar didn’t let the lemon stand out. I’d rather have Made these with a shortbread crust (to taste more of he lemon curd) along with this crumble top. I also added some shredded coconut to the top which was good, too!
I made these and they are yummy! A few things I did based on previous reviews:
I did not have meyer lemons, so I just used regular lemons and added more sugar.
I double the recipe and put it in an 8×8 pan- it kinda made the base of these too thick, so I would probably use a bigger pan next time. I did not add the amount of butter called for in the lemon filling- I used just more than half what it called for. It calls for a lot!
Do not over bake! I used a ceramic dish. My crust was hard only because I took it straight out of the fridge to cut. Once the bars got to room temp, they were perfect. Tasty, great bars!
Why not post your own recipe.? This isn’ta review, it’s your recipe!
This is a delicious recipe! Thank you! (After reading other comments I feel I should add that I baked mine in an aluminum pan for exactly 40 minutes, and they turned out perfectly.)
I made these for my family and they also were ROCK HARD!! As in other comments, they looked nothing like the picture and I could not get them out of the pan. I followed the recipe exactly and read and re-read it after it was done to see where I went wrong. I did everything the way the recipe said to. I checked my measuring cups to make sure I sued the right ones. I even put an oven thermometer in my oven to test the temperature. My oven was a little under 350, but not over it. This was quite embarrassing, because I am a good baker and have never had this happen before.
I am so sorry they didn’t turn out! Can I ask what type of dish you were using? Glass, metal, or ceramic?
I’m so sorry you had this experience. I found this recipe years ago and have made it a dozen times with consistent results. I use an 8×8 glass pan and use two long strips of parchment at the bottom to make removal a breeze. I’ve lard the lemon curd recipe provided (I’m making these again today with her curd recipe I canned a couple weeks ago) and I’ve also made these bars using various jams – all excellent, all results consistent. Might be worth another shot.
Were it say just says sugar which sugar is this.ordinary white sugar or granulated?
Regular white sugar 🙂
I made a double recipe using two metal 9×9 pans and it came out wonderfully. I just forwarded your recipe to a Freind who tried my bars yesterday and wants to make them now. The only change I made was that I cut way back on the butter at the end. Instead of mixing in 20 TBPS (double recipe) , I only used about 4 TBSP and mixed together a little cornstarch with cold water into the lemon curd just to ensure it would congeal properly. The bars were a hit! Nice and tart and refreshing. Oh and no hard crust because I checked on it’s color often during baking.
Thanks for sharing . I love lemons too and cooking and baking that doesn’t require a lot of pots.. I baked it for about 30′ because I noticed it started getting burned on the corners.
These are delicious! I’ve made them twice now. Both times with limes. I love lemon bars, but always seem to have limes instead of lemons when the mood strikes to make these. Anyway, I made extra curd and baked these in a slightly bigger pan. Yummy!
Yay! So glad you enjoy the recipe Laura Lou 🙂
Hi! Have made your recipe before and the bars were a huge hit! So making them again, but as a Christmas treat! A little off season, but yummy is always in season!! Just wondering if they freeze well??
Thanks for the recipe!!
Made these for my Christmas party & couldn’t serve them. The bottom was, ALSO ROCK HARD & I followed the recipe.. The lemon curd which oozed out around the sides turned very dark. I will try to put bread slices on the bottom of my container to see if they will soften up. Mine didn’t even resemble the picture. Will not make again!
I had these same problem! Mine were thin and rock hard and I only cooked them for 33 minutes. It looks like the pictured ones were made in an 8×8 and doubled because mine were thin and not at all like the photo. Disappointing…
I just made these lemon bars and they turned out amazing, my only problem was that they were a little too sour (I used your lemon curd recipe)! Next time I will just make the curd with more sugar or less lemon(?). Otherwise, they were just what I’ve wanted, as I’ve been on quite the lemon kick lately! Mine baked perfectly, no burns or hard bottom like the other comments suggested, however I only put them in for 25 minutes. Thanks so much for the recipe! Everyone that tried them so far loves them!
I am so happy you enjoyed the recipe!! These are hands down my favorite lemon bars. As far as the lemon curd coming out too tart, did you use Meyer lemons? Usually those are a bit sweeter, if using regular lemons that can add a bit more of the lemon tartness to the curd.
Hi!
I just made these lemon bars, and they are delicious and very easy to make. You really must have the time wrong in the recipe, though. I read the comments before I made these cookies, and I decided to reduce the time in the oven to 20-25 min. They came out slightly darker than the bars in your lovely pics, but otherwise the look very similar, texture is good and they taste yummy. I used homemade meyer lemon curd(mother-in-law has a tree) as I love that flavor.
Thought I’d share my experience, as I had a successfull attempt!
I feel like something is missing from this recipe…mine was so hard I couldn’t cut it, let alone eat it! And I didn’t even cook it the whole time suggested
Hi Whitney! I am so sorry you’re having issues! Someone else mentioned that theirs turned out hard too. I’ve made this recipe many times, and have others tell me they’ve made it without issues too. I’m wondering, what type of pan did you use to bake in? Was it glass or metal?
Serene, I baked these for 40 minutes and they were PERFECT!
Sinfully good.
Hi!
I made these last week and they were quite tasty save for one thing, they were rock hard on the bottom. As in, I ended throwing them away the second day after I had made them because I couldn’t even bite through them.
Not sure if the baking time was off? 40 minutes is a long time for a 9×9 pan.
I will try again with less time and see if I have better results. The flavor was great!
Hi Dori! I’m not sure why the bottom would be rock hard. I’ve used this recipe several times for different bars. It’s slightly crumbly and has to be pressed into the pan. But it is possible that it did bake too long. Sometimes ovens bake different. Let me know if you have any further issues! I would be happy to troubleshoot it with you! xo
Would you be able to tell me approximately how many grams/oz a cup of lemon curd is, and how many grams/oz the 3/4 cup of the crumble? I managed to find conversions for everything else, but for these it’s kind of difficult. I had to mess around with a round tin too, so it’ll be an experiment, but one definitely worth repeating by the smell of it!!
Hi Mia! I did not weigh my ingredients as I created this recipe. Definitely something I need to start doing so I have that information, from what I can tell in researching 1 cup of lemon curd will be about 240 grams. And the best part, when doing the crumble you don’t need to be exact. Just sprinkle the crumble on top so that it’s mostly covered. Let me know if you have any further questions!
Congrats! What a fabulous spring desert too 🙂
Thanks so much Laura!
I love lemon AND crumble! These look amazing! Hope you’re enjoying some snuggles with the little one 🙂