Semi-Homemade Lemon Bars

My husband’s birthday was a few weeks ago and since he loves lemon, just like me, I thought I would make him a lemon cake. I bought a lemon cake mix thinking I would do something fancy with it, but then I found this recipe on the Betty Crocker website and it looked very easy! It’s called Cheesecake Lemon Bars, but it did not resemble cheese cake at all to me. I did like the basis of the recipe but after reading the comments it looked like I needed to make a few adjustment. I changed just a few things in the original recipe and make a homemade lemon frosting to go on top. Enjoy!

Semi-Homemade Lemon Bars

Semi-Homemade Lemon Bars

Ingredients

  •  1 box lemon cake mix
  • 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Directions:
  1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat dry cake mix, butter and 1 of the eggs on low until crumbly. Press in bottom of an ungreased 13×9-inch pan.
  2. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese (make sure it’s soft & room temp) on medium until smooth. Slowly beat in powdered sugar on low, then add remaining 2 eggs into mixture on medium speed until blended. Stir in lemon juice until smooth and spread over cake mixture.
  3. Bake bars 23 to 28 minutes or until set. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Top with lemon frosting (recipe below) and refrigerate about 3 hours or until firm. Cut into bars for dessert, or into bite size pieces for snacks. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Lemon Frosting

Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup of butter, softened
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
  • 2 tbsp of milk
  • 1  3/4 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

  1. Mix the butter, lemon zest and vanilla together until all of the lumps are gone.
  2. Add milk into the butter mixture, then start adding the sugar slowly by the 1/2 cup. Once all of the sugar is mixed in, cream on high for about two minutes.
  3. Slowly stir in the lemon juice and mix by hand until well incorporated, about 30-60 seconds.

 Print: Semi-Homemade Lemon Bars & Lemon Frosting

 

This recipe was fairly quick and easy. Be sure to let the bars set up for the full 3 hours in the refrigerator. I tried a bite after the first hour and was disappointed that there wasn’t enough lemon taste. But once the 3 hours were up and I served them as dessert you could really taste the lemon in them!

Monika, Life With Lovebugs

Monika

Monika is a mom to 3 little lovebugs. She loves to laugh, write, craft, play and try new DIY projects. She started Life With Lovebugs as a way to share all of her household tips, recipes and playtime activities with other moms.

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