Our Cream Cheese Lemon Squeeze Bars are so tasty, we named our blog after them! With a perfect balance of sweet, tart, and creamy flavors, this recipe for handheld lemon cheesecake bars with a shortbread crust is the simple dessert recipe we turn to whenever we’re in need of a quick win.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe
We don’t know about you, but the two of us have a major sweet tooth. We want some kind of dessert to finish any meal (and, if we’re being honest, sometimes we eat it as THE meal because YOLO 🤷♀️).
That said, we’re also busy working moms with full-time jobs, active kiddos, loving hubbies, and a blog to maintain, so we don’t always have a ton of time to dedicate to making sure some kind of sweet treat is on deck. Luckily, these lemon cream cheese bars are part of our short-on-time recipe arsenal.
With bright, puckery, citrusy tartness, lusciously rich cream cheese, tender and crumbly shortbread, and just the right amount of sweetness, these cream cheese lemon bars are tasty enough to be our signature dessert.
Aside from having an irresistible flavor (seriously, you can’t stop at just one), these lemon bars with cream cheese are also:
- Quick & Easy – With a press-in crust and a super simple filling, this recipe takes just 15 minutes of active prep.
- Made With Fewer Than 10 Ingredients – Most of them are pantry staples, which means it’s easy to whip up a batch of our lemony cream cheese bars on the fly.
- Fresh & Zingy – We love these tasty cheesecake lemon bars all year round. They’re equally delightful in the depths of winter when they taste like a ray of much-needed sunshine as they are refreshing and light after a meat-filled summer cookout.
- Perfectly Portioned & Portable – Food is always better when it’s shared with the ones you love. This yummy lemon dessert with cream cheese is built to be eaten by hand, making it the ideal choice for potlucks, picnics, busy house parties, bake sales, and more.
Ingredients & Substitutions
As we mentioned earlier, you only need a few easy-to-find staple ingredients to make our lemon cream cheese bars recipe. Here’s the whole list:
- All-Purpose Flour – All you need is plain flour, but you’re welcome to swap in cake flour or your favorite measure-for-measure gluten-free all-purpose flour blend if you need to.
- Sugar – Granulated sugar is as staple as it gets. Feel free to use less refined organic cane sugar if you prefer.
- Salt – A touch of salt in the shortbread helps to balance out all the sweetness. We use Kosher salt for our everyday cooking. If you use a different type, refer to a salt conversion chart for proper measurement.
- Butter – We use salted butter in this recipe, but feel free to swap in unsalted. If you do make the substitution, bump up the added salt just a smidge. You can also use your favorite vegan butter if you prefer a dairy-free treat.
- Cream Cheese – We Southerners preach the full-fat dairy gospel. If you prefer a lighter lemon cream cheese bar, you can use Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese. Just don’t reach for the lite or non-fat stuff — it’s chock-full of weird stabilizers and fillers that mess with the taste and texture.
- Lemon Juice – Repeat after us: fresh lemon juice is the ONLY lemon juice! While it might be tempting to buy a bottle or jar of pre-squeezed lemon juice, the flavor won’t be nearly as bright as if you were to use fresh. Plus, with fresh lemons, you get the added benefit of being able to add the zest and/or a pretty lemon slice garnish if you want.
- Powdered Sugar – If you don’t have any on hand, make your own using granulated sugar, cornstarch, and your food processor.
- Eggs – For binding. Let them come to room temperature so they mix into your cheesecake batter more easily.
- Vanilla Extract – You’re also welcome to use equal amounts of either vanilla paste or vanilla powder, or use half as much ground vanilla.
How To Make Lemon Cream Cheese Cookie Bars
You’ll be able to knock out this recipe for lemon cheesecake bars with just 15 minutes of active prep work. Here’s how they’re made:
Step 1: Prep. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 inch pan with foil or parchment with plenty of overhang around the edges to lift the bars out of the pan before cutting.
Step 2: Make Crust Mix by combining flour, sugar, salt, and butter cubes in a food processor or blender. Cover and pulse until fine crumbs form. (You can also do this with a pastry cutter, fork, or with your fingers in a large bowl.)
Step 3: Press In Crust into the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.
Step 4: Make Filling Mix by combining cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl. Cream together until smooth. Mix in flour, powdered sugar, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla until completely incorporated.
Step 5: Bake Again. Pour filling over crust and return to oven for 30 minutes.
Step 6: Chill & Slice. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes, then cover and transfer chill in the fridge 4 hours or overnight. Lift the foil edges to remove the bars from the pan, slice into squares, sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, and serve.
Optional Variations
We love this cream cheese lemon bar recipe just the way it’s written, but there are also lots of ways for you to make it your own. Here are a few ideas to get your creative wheels turning:
- Add Berries or a Jam Swirl. Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars or Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars both sound particularly lovely, but strawberries, blackberries, or boysenberries (or jams made from them) would also be tasty.
- Swap Your Citrus. This recipe will also work if you swap in fresh lime, grapefruit, or even orange juice. If you use a sweeter citrus, just make sure to dial back the sugar in the filling by a tablespoon or two.
- Dairy-Free Lemon Cheesecake Bars. Swap in your favorite plant-based butter and cream cheese substitutes.
- Gluten-Free Lemon Cream Cheese Squares. Use your favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour blend in place of the AP.
Expert Tips
- Make sure to leave an overhang of parchment or foil to help you get the whole tray of bars out of the baking pan. If the overhangs are getting in your way, you can always use binder clips to get them to cooperate.
- Don’t rush refrigeration. The cheesecake layer needs at least 4 hours to set up properly.
- Wipe your knife off between slices for clean, even edges.
FAQs
YES! Lemon bars should be refrigerated in an air-tight container. The bars can be at room-temperature for a few hours, but then need to be refrigerated to avoid any spoiling.
YES! We suggest sealing them in plastic wrap (better yet vacuum sealed) and then wrapped in tin foil for up to 1-2 months.
Make sure you’re using a non-reactive bowl to make the filling (e.g. glass, melamine, or stainless steel), or the acid from the lemon juice might react with the metal and make your filling taste funky.
More Easy Dessert/Potluck Recipes
- Chocolate-Covered Oreo Delights: A Tempting Twist on a Classic Cookie
- Easy Lemon Blueberry Loaf Cake
- Lemon Mini Cheesecake Recipe
- Pomme Duchesse: A Swirl of Delight
If y’all tried this sumptuous recipe for our eponymous Cream Cheese Lemon Squeeze Bars, holler and let us know how it turned out for you by giving us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and commenting below. You can also always feel free to tag us (@creamcheeseandlemonsqueeze) in your social media posts so we can cheer you on.
Alright, y’all. Thanks so much for stopping by! For even more down-home Mississippi Coast cooking inspiration, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and TikTok. You can also get all of our newest content delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for our weekly newsletter. We can’t wait to see you again soon!
XO,
Anna & Ashley
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter chilled and cut into cubes
For the Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cups fresh squeezed lemon
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 inch pan with foil or parchment with plenty of overhang around the edges to lift the bars out of the pan before cutting
- Prepare the crust by combining flour, sugar, salt, and butter cubes in a food processor or blender. Cover and pulse until fine crumbs form. (You can also do this with a pastry cutter, fork, or with your fingers in a large bowl}.
- Press crust into prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling
- Prepare the filling by combining cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl. Cream together until smooth. Mix in flour, powdered sugar, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla until completely incorporated
- Pour filling over crust and return to oven for 30 minutes
- Allow to cool for about 20 minutes, then cover and transfer chill in the fridge 4 hours or overnight. Lift the foil edges to remove the bars from the pan, slice into squares, sprinkle with additional powdered sugar, and serve
Tips and Notes
- Flavor tip: add an extra 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon zest for even more lemon flavor!
- Altitude adjustments: if you find that after the instructed baking time your bars have not set, simply continue to bake in 5-10 minute increments until center has set.
- If edges begin to brown too much, tent with foil and continue baking.