Easy Creamy Lemon Crumb Bars with a quick oatmeal crumb base and a sweet and tart creamy lemon filling.
Lemon bars have long been one of my favorite desserts to make and lemon tarts are actually my most requested dessert by a pretty far margin. The rich filling is both easy and impressive and even though these bars aren’t going to win any sort of a beauty contest I guarantee you’ll think the flavor is out of this world.
The base recipe is delicious but lets get some more options out there:
- Add sliced freeze dried strawberries on top of the filling and before the crumble for strawberry lemon bars.
- Use half lemon juice/zest and half lime… or heck ALL lime!
- Dip the bottoms of these bars in melted white chocolate for an even more over the top experience.
- Use Meyer Lemons (you are probably spying them in the back of these photos)…full disclosure, I used Meyer Lemons in these bars and they are AMAZING. That being said 99% of the time I make this recipe I use standard lemons.
- Used dried cherries or dried blueberries in bars. I make them even better by soaking them in more lemon juice or water.
If you have time, you can also try them frozen. I love putting these bars in the freezer and if you have any left over. I’ve also made these with coarse sanding sugar before for an extra crunch on top. They make the bars look like jewels!
Creamy Lemon Crumb Bars
Easy Creamy Lemon Crumb Bars with a quick oatmeal crumb base and a sweet and tart creamy lemon filling.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Calories 261 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter , melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 large egg yolks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter/flour or baking spray an 8x8 baking pan.
- In a large mixing bowl add flour, oats, salt and baking soda.
- Mix in the sugar and light brown sugar.
- Add the vanilla and melted better together and mix it into the dry ingredients.
- Press half the mixture into the bottom of your baking pan.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- While the crust is baking, mix together the condensed milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and egg yolks.
- Add it to the baking pan once it is done baking and dot the top of the filling with the remaining crumble evenly.
Bake for an additional 20-22 minutes.
- Let cool completely, then refrigerate.
- The bars slice better cold. If you want to slice perfectly you can also freeze it so the filling doesn't ooze at all while cutting.
- If you want to take this over the top you can also freeze the bars then cut and dip the bottom half in some melted white chocolate.
- Put the dipped bars onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and keep refrigerated.
Nutrition Facts
Creamy Lemon Crumb Bars
Amount Per Serving
Calories 261 Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Fat 13g20%
Saturated Fat 7g44%
Cholesterol 63mg21%
Sodium 149mg6%
Potassium 73mg2%
Carbohydrates 34g11%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 17g19%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 400IU8%
Vitamin C 5.2mg6%
Calcium 23mg2%
Iron 1.1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
These were delicious. I made them exactly as recipe described and they came out perfect. Delicious lemon bar with an oatmeal cookie base and crumb like topping. So good!
This recipe is sooo good! But for those counting calories, the count is way off. So do your own math.
follow up for the cookie idea?
the 5 stars are for the orig recipe
cookie idea maybe a 3 1/2-4 stars
need that yummy lemon filling to set off the oatmeal goodness ???
deeeeeelicious!!!!
i’m trying just the crust for some yummy cookies!!
baking now will be back with critique?
This is the best Oatmeal Lemon bar recipe I have tried. The additional butter, flour and oats makes a generous batch and baking the bottom portion first really makes the crust so tasty. The egg yolks in the lemon mixture are a nice addition to make it more fluffy. I only used one yolk and plenty of lemon juice and zest. These are so delicious, they are hard to stop eating!
I love lemon flavored desserts, and I’ve tried quite a few traditional lemon bar recipes but they’ve always been a little off balance (too sweet, too tart, not enough crust ect) for my tastes. I had almost given up finding one I really liked.
This one was PERFECT! The double crust and the lemon paired with the sweetened condensed milk really makes a nice and balanced dessert that’s just sweet, tart, and crunchy enough. I also found the filling to be firmer than the kind made with just eggs and lemon, and coupled with the double crust it made the bars much easier to cut and eat without them falling apart.
I think if I were to try my hand at traditional lemon bars again I might actually use this crust, since it both tastes better and supports the filling more/doesn’t fall apart as easily.
These became an instant hit in my house, and I can’t wait to make them again. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Sunny!
These are amazing!! First time trying them and they are seriously SO good. My family all loved, kids included. I made with gluten free flour for an interolance and no one knew. These remind me of a crisp, but with lemon instead of berries or apples. The oatmeal base and topping is so good!
This recipe is perfect ?. I’ve made it twice in one week!
Woohoo! Thanks for the 5 stars, Shawna.
Someone really special to me made these for me, And I ate the whole pan. I’m not even mad about it.
Hooray! Yeah, these are a favorite of mine too. Glad you enjoyed them.
Can we use quick oats instead of rolled oats?
Quick oats offer a softer, moister finished product so the texture might be different though it will still be delicious! Good luck!