What makes a lemon bar dessert even better? Limoncello liquor of course! These creamy limoncello lemon bars are a boozy spin on the classic lemon squares recipe. The filling is a creamy lemon custard that’s both sweet and tart, without being too much of either. Try this perfect summer dessert today!
These limoncello bars follow a basic recipe for creamy lemon squares, while adding a bit of Italian limoncello for boozy lemon bars. Between the regular lemon juice and the addition of limoncello liquor, you won’t really taste the alcohol, but it does add a nice boost to the citrus flavor and acidity. The alcohol should mostly cook out as well if you’re worried about letting kids eat these.
While most lemon bar recipes use lots of eggs, sugar, and lemon juice to create a custard like layer, I find that desserts with sweetened condensed milk have a creamier taste and texture. I use the same type of filling for my key lime pie bars as well. This is what makes these creamy limoncello bars, well, creamy.
A lot of lemon bar recipes also use powdered sugar for the shortbread crust. Here I use regular granulated sugar instead but replace a little of the flour with corn starch. This allows the crust to retain some of its tender texture, but the granulated sugar helps to brown the crust as it bakes and keeps it slightly crispy when the limoncello layer is added.
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🥘 Ingredients
Creamy limoncello lemon bars, like any other lemon bars recipe, are comprised of two separate components: a shortbread crust and a lemon custard topping.
Shortbread Crust:
Flour – All-purpose flour works fine here. For a gluten free version, almond flour, or a gluten free 1:1 blend should also work just fine.
Corn Starch – Replacing some of the flour with corn starch helps to keep the crust slightly on the tender side.
Sugar – I use granulated white sugar in my crust instead of powdered sugar. This helps the crust brown and stay slightly crispier.
Butter – Some recipes cut cold butter into the flour, but I find melting it and mixing it into the flour is just fine in this application. If you’d prefer to cut cold butter into the flour mixture for a slightly flakier crust, feel free to do so.
Salt – A little bit of salt in the crust helps to round out and tone down the sweetness a bit.
Extract – This is optional, and I didn’t use it in this recipe, but a bit of vanilla or almond extract in the crust adds a nice, subtle flavor boost.
Limoncello Filling:
Eggs – I use a mix of whole eggs and yolks for the filling. Two eggs with 4 yolks worked well for this recipe. Use at room temperature so they mix into the other ingredients well.
Milk – Instead of adding a few cups of sugar, I use 2 14-ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk to add both sweetness and creaminess to the limoncello bars.
Lemon – Use fresh lemons here for the best lemon flavor, both fresh squeezed lemon juice and grated lemon zest. Depending on the lemon, you’ll typically get 2-3 tablespoons of juice from each one. I’d recommend at least 5-6 lemons for a full cup, or 6 to be on the safe side.
Limoncello – This Italian liquor can be found anywhere alcohol is sold, usually in the aisle with cordials. You can also make your own homemade Limoncello and use that here.
🔪 How to Make
Making creamy limoncello lemon bars is an easy process that only requires two bowls, one dish for baking, and less than an hour of your time.
Start by zesting and juicing the lemons until you have a tablespoon of zest and 1 cup of lemon juice.
Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Prepare a glass or ceramic coated 13x9 baking dish by spraying the bottom and sides with cooking spray or greasing with butter. Trim some parchment paper to make a sling and spray or butter the top of that as well. Set it aside.
Shortbread Crust:
Now make the shortbread crust. In a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, corn starch, and salt. Whisk to combine everything. Pour in the melted butter and extract if using any and mix with a wooden spoon or fork until a loose dough forms.
Dump the dough into the prepared 13x9 baking dish and spread it out across the bottom. Using your hands, press the dough down into the dish and try to spread and level it out as evenly as possible. Bake the shortbread layer for 18-22 minutes, until it just starts to show some browning.
Limoncello Custard:
While the crust is baking, prepare the custard layer. In another mixing bowl, add the sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and egg yolks. Whisk together until no visible streaks of egg remain.
Now add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and limoncello. Whisk again until the lemon juice is fully combined and there’s no layer of separated juice.
As soon as the bottom crust has cooked, remove the dish from the oven. Pour the lemon mixture over the hot crust and make sure the layer is fully spread out and even. Place the baking dish back in the oven and lower the temperature to 325°F / 162°C. Bake for another 20 minutes. The creamy limoncello lemon bars are done when the top layer no longer looks wet and barely jiggles at all when you shake the dish.
Allow the limoncello bars to cool at room temperature for at least 1-2 hours, and then I prefer to also refrigerate another 1-2 hours until cool and firm. Once fully cooled to your preference, remove the creamy limoncello lemon bars from the baking dish by lifting straight up with the parchment sling.
For the cleanest looking lemon bars, run a sharp knife under hot water and wipe clean between each slice you make. Optionally dust the tops with powdered sugar and serve.
📖 Variations
Alcohol Free – If you want a version that’s alcohol free, simply omit the limoncello and no other changes are needed. This will simply turn the recipe into a regular creamy lemon bar.
Other Citrus – While creamy limoncello lemon bars are great as they are, you can easily swap the lemon juice out for other citrus fruits such as limes, oranges, grapefruit, blood oranges, etc. Blood orange is really good, and for a similar dessert, check out my blood orange and hibiscus tart.
Gluten-Free – As mentioned above in the ingredients section, you can make these limoncello bars or any similar recipe gluten free by using almond flour or a gluten free 1:1 flour substitute.
Smaller Version – This recipe makes 24 limoncello lemon bars in a 13x9 pan. Feel free to cut the recipe in half and you can make them in an 8x8 or 9x9 square pan instead. The 8x8 version should be similar looking, while a 9x9 will be slightly thinner lemon bars.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
For the best flavor, always use freshly squeezed lemon juice. Bottled lemon juice is PH balanced and contains additives and preservatives to remain shelf stable. While fine to use in a pinch, the flavor won’t be as bright and snappy as fresh lemon juice.
The edges should be fully set, and the rest of the top layer should no longer or just barely jiggle. Be sure to allow them to cool completely to finish setting before slicing as well.
Spraying the pan with cooking spray or coating with butter helps the crust release easily. Adding a sling with parchment paper and spraying or buttering the top will make removing them from the baking dish much easier also.
Once cooled, you can serve them at room temperature and leave them out for a few hours. After that however, lemon bars need to be refrigerated because they contain eggs. Creamy limoncello lemon bars also contain dairy in addition to the eggs and need to be refrigerated as well.
Use a sharp knife and run the blade under hot water. Make one clean cut with a downwards motion through the crust and wash and wipe the blade clean between each additional cut.
🍽 Equipment
You don’t need any special or fancy equipment to make creamy limoncello lemon bars, but here’s a few items that deserve special mention.
Juicer – You don’t need a fancy juicing machine, but I do recommend a simple and cheap hand juicer for any recipe that requires juicing more than 1-2 fruits. The one listed is easy to use and collects the juice in a glass below. I then pour that through a fine mesh sieve into a measuring glass to remove any seeds or pulp that falls through.
Baking Dish – In almost all fruit dessert recipes that require baking, especially recipes where the fruit contacts the dish, I recommend using glass or ceramic coated baking dishes. I prefer this 13x9 glass baking dish especially. Metal baking pans can leave the finished dish with a slightly metallic taste.
Bowl Scraper – A cheap bowl scraper made of stiff but flexible plastic or nylon are amazing for recipes involving batters or doughs. I use one here because it contours to the shape of the mixing bowl to easily scoop out all the lemon filling and helps to spread and level out the top layer.
❄️ Storage
Once cooled, you can leave limoncello bars out at room temperature to serve and they’ll be fine for a few hours. After that, however, you’ll need to store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator because they contain eggs and dairy. They’ll stay fresh for 2-3 days.
For longer storage, creamy limoncello lemon bars do freeze well. You can store the entire batch in an airtight container for 2-3 months in the freezer. If freezing leftovers, cut lemon bars, freeze them on a small sheet tray for about 30 minutes, then move to an airtight container and place wax paper between stacks to keep them from sticking together.
📋 Recipe
Creamy Limoncello Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust:
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup corn starch
- ⅔ cup granulated white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
Limoncello Curd:
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 2 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons limoncello liquor
Optional Toppings:
- Powdered sugar
- Meringue
- Whipped cream
- Lemon slices
Directions
- Start by zesting and juicing the lemons until you have a tablespoon of zest and 1 cup of lemon juice.
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Prepare a glass or ceramic coated 13x9 baking dish by spraying the bottom and sides with cooking spray or greasing with butter. Trim some parchment paper to make a sling and spray or butter the top of that as well. Set it aside.
Shortbread Crust:
- Now make the shortbread crust. In a mixing bowl, add 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, ⅔ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup corn starch, and ½ teaspoon salt. Whisk to combine everything. Pour in the melted ¾ cups unsalted butter (and 1 teaspoon of extract if using any) and mix with a wooden spoon or fork until a loose dough forms.
- Dump the dough into the prepared 13x9 baking dish and spread it out across the bottom. Using your hands, press the dough down into the dish and try to spread and level it out as evenly as possible. Bake the shortbread layer for 18-22 minutes, until it just starts to show some browning.
Limoncello Curd:
- While the crust is baking, prepare the custard layer. In another mixing bowl, add 2 14-oz cans of sweetened condensed milk, 2 eggs, and 4 egg yolks. Whisk together until no visible streaks of egg remain.
- Now add 1cup of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon lemon zest, and 3 tablespoons of limoncello. Whisk again until the lemon juice is fully combined and there’s no layer of separated juice.
- As soon as the bottom crust has cooked, remove the dish from the oven. Pour the lemon mixture over the hot crust and make sure the layer is fully spread out and even. Place the baking dish back in the oven and lower the temperature to 325°F / 162°C. Bake for another 20 minutes. The creamy limoncello lemon bars are done when the top layer no longer looks wet and barely jiggles at all when you shake the dish.
- Allow the limoncello bars to cool at room temperature for at least 1-2 hours, and then I prefer to also refrigerate another 1-2 hours until cool and firm. Once fully cooled to your preference, remove the creamy limoncello lemon bars from the baking dish by lifting straight up with the parchment sling.
- For the cleanest looking lemon bars, run a sharp knife under hot water and wipe clean between each slice you make. Optionally dust the tops with powdered sugar and serve.
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