Lemon Cookie Bars
Lemon sugar cookie bars topped with a lemon buttercream make a batch of cookies low effort for a tasty treat, particularly when you're craving something zesty or have lemons you don't know what to do with.
Servings 16 cookies
Calories 235kcal
Ingredients
Lemon cookie bars
- 100 grams / ½ cup superfine/caster sugar
- 10 grams / 2 teaspoons lemon zest finely chopped
- 100 grams / 3.5 ounces butter room temperature
- 55 grams / 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 267 grams / 1 ⅔ cups plain flour
- 6 grams / 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
Lemon buttercream
- 100 grams / 3.5 ounces butter softened
- 90 grams / ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon confectioner/icing sugar sifted
- 21 grams / 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice 1 large lemon
- ¼ teaspoon sea or kosher salt
- 20 grams / 1 tablespoon lemon curd
Instructions
Lemon cookie bars
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
- Place the sugar and lemon zest into a bowl and rub together to coat the zest thoroughly with sugar and draw out the oils in the peel.
- Add the butter and beat until pale and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes with an electric beater.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and combine until smooth, approximately 1 minute.
- Toss in the flour and baking powder and beat on the lowest setting until the flour has just been combined and no dry portions remain in your bowl.
- Pour the mixture into your tin and press firmly with your hand and then even out with an offset spatula into your baking tin.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until ever so slightly golden.
- Remove and allow to cool completely.
Lemon buttercream
- To make the buttercream filling, place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat on medium with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, approximately 4 minutes.
- Add in the lemon juice and salt and stir until fully combined.
- Remove the bars from the tin and mark out the edges where you will cut your cookies.
- Spoon the buttercream on top of the cookie and smear to the very edges, swooshing a little.
- Spoon ¼ teaspoonfuls of the lemon curd on top of the buttercream and swoosh.
- Slice and serve.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Lemon: Verna lemons were most easy to source for this recipe, but honestly, any unwaxed lemon you have on hand works. You will want the skin to be as blemish free as possible for the zest.
- Square tin: A 18×18 cm or 7×7 inch square baking tin works well here, though a rectangle tin would also work well.
Nutrition
Calories: 235kcal