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For anyone who loves the fresh flavors of summer, you’ll want to make these easy lemon bars! These fresh summer cookie bars with a lemon curd-like layer are impossible to resist.

Best Lemon Bars

As early as spring, I start to crave summer flavors and use lemon in many of my recipes. Lemon bars are the perfect recipe to make at this time of year. And in the fall, I still can’t quite let go of those summer flavors. For those who want to hold on to that summer feeling a little longer, or for those who just love anything with lemon flavor, you have found the perfect recipe.

I first came across the concept of lemon bars years ago on Pinterest. After trying several recipes, I finally created my own version. In this recipe, you make a layer of shortbread with a fresh, creamy lemon layer on top that is reminiscent of lemon curd. If you love lemon curd as much as I do, you will definitely approve of these lemon bars! Because you bake the lemon layer in the oven with the pre baked shortbread, it blends in with the cookie base, making it incredibly delicious.

Lemon cookie bars

Do you love lemon? Then these lemon bars are sure to please. The cookie base is shortbread, and on top of that is a creamy lemon filling that tastes like lemon curd, but is a little different in terms of ingredients.

For example, there is no butter in the lemon filling, but there is a good amount of eggs, which provide the binding and firmness. The result is a delicious lemon bar that is perfect for high tea, a picnic or as a dessert. Also great for bake sales with a nice glass of lemonade.

About the ingredients

You don’t need much to make these classic lemon bars, but sometimes when a recipe is easy, you’ll want to be extra sure if you use the right ingredients. So I’ll make a quick list of the ingredients for this lemon bar recipe.

• Unsalted butter: I always use unsalted butter for baking recipes. This way you can decide for yourself how much salt is needed in a recipe. And don’t forget: unsalted butter makes a perfect buttery shortbread crust for this recipe.
• Sugar: You need this for the shortbread and the lemon layer. I always use fine granulated sugar for baking. It dissolves quicker than regular granulated sugar and it gives the perfect structure to the end result. If you can’t find fine granulated sugar, it’s perfectly fine to use regular sugar. The fine sugar just has my preference.
• Flour: Also for the shortbread and a small bit for the lemon layer. You’re perfectly fine with all purpose flour for this recipe. You could use a gluten free flour if you want to make gluten free lemon bars, but I haven’t tested this myself. But I do know some of my follower did and were very pleased with the result.
• Eggs: For the lemon layer I used 4 medium eggs. A medium eggs weighs about 50 grams without their shell.
• Lemons: The most important part of this recipe. I just use regular fresh lemons, no need for special types of lemon. You will need the lemon zest and the fresh lemon juice of both lemons for the lemon layer in this recipe.
• Powdered sugar: For the finishing touch: sprinkle some powdered sugar on top of the lemon bars right before you serve them.

At last: all ingredients need to be on room temperature before you start making this easy recipe.

More Recipes with Lemon

As I mentioned before, I love to bake with lemon. If you love lemon bars, you will love my lemon curd! Everything is delicious with homemade lemon curd. I use it in a lot of desserts to, I really love lemon desserts.

Another delicious recipe is my perfect lemon loaf. I love this recipe and make it every summer, preferably several times.

For anyone who loves the fresh flavors of summer, you’ll want to make these easy lemon bars! These fresh summer cookie bars with a lemon curd-like layer are impossible to resist.

Best Lemon Bars

As early as spring, I start to crave summer flavors and use lemon in many of my recipes. Lemon bars are the perfect recipe to make at this time of year. And in the fall, I still can’t quite let go of those summer flavors. For those who want to hold on to that summer feeling a little longer, or for those who just love anything with lemon flavor, you have found the perfect recipe.

I first came across the concept of lemon bars years ago on Pinterest. After trying several recipes, I finally created my own version. In this recipe, you make a layer of shortbread with a fresh, creamy lemon layer on top that is reminiscent of lemon curd. If you love lemon curd as much as I do, you will definitely approve of these lemon bars! Because you bake the lemon layer in the oven with the pre baked shortbread, it blends in with the cookie base, making it incredibly delicious.

Lemon cookie bars

Do you love lemon? Then these lemon bars are sure to please. The cookie base is shortbread, and on top of that is a creamy lemon filling that tastes like lemon curd, but is a little different in terms of ingredients.

For example, there is no butter in the lemon filling, but there is a good amount of eggs, which provide the binding and firmness. The result is a delicious lemon bar that is perfect for high tea, a picnic or as a dessert. Also great for bake sales with a nice glass of lemonade.

About the ingredients

You don’t need much to make these classic lemon bars, but sometimes when a recipe is easy, you’ll want to be extra sure if you use the right ingredients. So I’ll make a quick list of the ingredients for this lemon bar recipe.

• Unsalted butter: I always use unsalted butter for baking recipes. This way you can decide for yourself how much salt is needed in a recipe. And don’t forget: unsalted butter makes a perfect buttery shortbread crust for this recipe.
• Sugar: You need this for the shortbread and the lemon layer. I always use fine granulated sugar for baking. It dissolves quicker than regular granulated sugar and it gives the perfect structure to the end result. If you can’t find fine granulated sugar, it’s perfectly fine to use regular sugar. The fine sugar just has my preference.
• Flour: Also for the shortbread and a small bit for the lemon layer. You’re perfectly fine with all purpose flour for this recipe. You could use a gluten free flour if you want to make gluten free lemon bars, but I haven’t tested this myself. But I do know some of my follower did and were very pleased with the result.
• Eggs: For the lemon layer I used 4 medium eggs. A medium eggs weighs about 50 grams without their shell.
• Lemons: The most important part of this recipe. I just use regular fresh lemons, no need for special types of lemon. You will need the lemon zest and the fresh lemon juice of both lemons for the lemon layer in this recipe.
• Powdered sugar: For the finishing touch: sprinkle some powdered sugar on top of the lemon bars right before you serve them.

At last: all ingredients need to be on room temperature before you start making this easy recipe.

More Recipes with Lemon

As I mentioned before, I love to bake with lemon. If you love lemon bars, you will love my lemon curd! Everything is delicious with homemade lemon curd. I use it in a lot of desserts to, I really love lemon desserts.

Another delicious recipe is my perfect lemon loaf. I love this recipe and make it every summer, preferably several times.

I have another delicious recipe with a perfect flavor combo: lemon poppy seed muffins! They are fluffy, moist, easy to make and one of my favorite muffin recipes.

Lemons and poppy seed

These delicious lemon poppy seed muffins where first made for a photo shoot I did a few years back. At the time I wrote a weekly column for a Dutch magazine which always featured a new recipe plus a photo of me. Because we needed a few new head shots I figured it would be nice to make these lemon poppy seed muffins.

People often look at me a little crazy when I say I put poppy seeds in a batter (at least they do here in the Netherlands), but after they taste it, they are convinced.

I think the best example of this was when I was at a food market with the lemon poppy seed cake from my second book. I encouraged everyone with raised eyebrows (poppy seeds, in a cake? Why?!) to try a piece, and it was so funny to see everyone start laughing as they chewed. They loved it!

Since I like the combination of lemon and poppy seeds so much, I decided to combine them again, this time in muffins. I love muffins. In a few minutes they are in the oven and before you know it you are enjoying delicious muffins.

What goes into the lemon poppy seed muffins

Making this lemon poppy seed muffins recipe is really super easy to do. I always love how easy it is to make muffins, and the lemon flavor in this muffin recipe is just so delicious! I love all things lemon, it’s my go to ingredient in spring and summer.

You need the following ingredients:

• sugar – I use regular granulated sugar for this recipe
• all purpose flour
• baking powder
• baking soda
• lemon – you need fresh lemon zest as well as fresh lemon juice
• poppy seeds
• eggs
• milk – I use semi skimmed milk for making these moist lemon poppy seed muffins.
• sunflower oil – or another neutral vegetable oil

In addition to the above you will also need paper muffin cups, a muffin tin and a wire rack to cool down the muffins once baked.

Preparing the muffin batter

The good thing about making any kind of muffin is that the batter is usually simply a matter of combining the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.

You also don’t need to whip it for very long so a large bowl is usually enough. No need to use a food processor either.

Just mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest and poppy seeds. Use a whisk to mix it through and use a separate bowl for mixing the wet ingredients. It’s ok if there are a few streaks of flour in the batter. And that’s all there is to it.

Place each muffin liner inside of your muffin pan and fill with the batter. You want the batter to be just below the rim of the paper so you will get nice round muffin tops.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown and cooked. The baking time is roughly 12-18 minutes.

I love making a quick batch of these muffins and freeze them for later use. Perfect to include in your weekday breakfast or as a snack and even better for lemon lovers!

Check out these lemon recipes as well:

For all my lemon lovers, here are a few recipes you might like:

• Lemon bars
• Lemon fudge
• Candied lemon slices
• Lemon loaf

What are your lemon recipes? Let me know in the comments below!

While I love being in the kitchen for more elaborate recipes, I also love the baked goods you can make in a pinch. Take lemon fudge, for example! Basically, this is a chocolate fudge made with white chocolate.

I also added lemon extract and lemon curd to make a deliciously fresh lemon fudge. Because of the additions, the fudge is a little softer and has a creamy texture, but that actually makes it even more delicious. I wrapped the pieces of fudge in sheets of parchment paper for storage.

Easy lemon fudge recipe

Apart from being absolutely delicious, these also make a great gift to someone who loves that zesty lemon flavor. You can fill a bag, a tin or a jar with some wrapped pieces of the creamy lemon fudge and you’ll make someone really happy.

This recipe makes more than enough to fill your own candy jar. Plus it’s super easy and you need just a few simple ingredients.

• white chocolate chips – or use white chocolate bars
• condensed milk – the condensed milk also provides extra sweetness (on top of the chocolate) so no additional sugar is needed
• lemon extract 
• lemon curd – you can also add a bit of lemon zest for even more lemon flavor

In addition to the ingredients you need a square or rectangle pan lined with parchment paper to pour the fudge mixture in.

How to make the lemon fudge

There are several methods for making fudge. A traditional fudge recipe would require the use of a candy thermometer and can be a bit more fiddly to get right.

I personally love easy fudge recipes and this lemon fudge is really quite simple. No need for thermometers or other fancy equipment.

Just melt, stir and cool. That’s basically all it takes. As always make sure to check the full details in the recipe card.

You only need a large saucepan where all the ingredients would easily fit in. Place the pan on low heat to maximum medium heat (you don’t want it to get too hot) and gently melt the chocolate.

Once the mixture is smooth and creamy you pour the fudge into your prepared pan or baking dish. Spread evenly with a spatula, cover with aluminum foil and place in the fridge for at least 4 to 6 hours to set.

Wrapping the individual pieces

Now if you are thinking of making this sweet treat into a lovely gift you can wrap each piece in a bit of parchment paper.

Wrapping also helps in storing it, because the lemon fudge is a little softer than normal fudge. So wrapping it makes it easier to handle.

When you’re cutting your fudge, do this straight from the fridge with a sharp knife. Don’t leave it at room temperature and then cut it as that will be more difficult.

More recipes with lemon

I know I’m not the only one that loves those fresh lemon recipes. I share a few of my favorites, but know there are many more lemon recipes on the blog:

• Lemon loaf
• Lemon bars
• Lemon curd

Making your own lemon curd is not difficult at all. With just a few ingredients, you can make your own fresh curd to use in a delicious lemon meringue pie, for example.

Homemade lemon curd

On my baking weekend last month, I made lemon curd for the first time. I have no idea why I hadn’t done it before. Since I was so eager to make lemon meringue pie, I wanted to get it right the first time and make the curd myself.

I made a big batch so I could make more recipes with it and make sure I had some left over to put in the yogurt (very tasty!). I didn’t think it would be so easy to make my own curd from lemons and a few other ingredients.

Baking tip: When you make a curd, you can store it in a sealed jar. I usually use glass mason jars.

What to eat with lemon curd

The possibilities are endless with this delicious curd. Put a little in your yogurt, a scoop over an ice cream dessert, spread it on a cracker, and of course: serve it on homemade scones with clotted cream. Yes, it really is all delicious!

Other popular recipes with this curd are, of course, any recipes that combine the curd with meringue. Like lemon meringue pie. I also love lemon curd cookies, like thumbprint cookies with the curd in the center. I will post a recipe for those soon.

Lemon curd cake is also very tasty. For example, you can use this recipe for lemon loaf and serve it with whipped cream and your homemade curd. Or with ice cream, which is also very tasty!

BAKING TIP: Love lemon curd? Then you will also LOVE these easy lemon bars!

If you love pancakes, you’re going to adore these delicious fresh lemon poppy seed pancakes. Delicious for breakfast or lunch or a lazy Sunday morning, this easy recipe for homemade pancakes will get you started right away!

Making Lemon Poppy seed Pancakes

Poppy seed for baking may sound strange, but it is surprisingly delicious! Lemon poppy seed combinations are quite common in the US (not so much in The Netherlands, although it’s a bit more common now).

Think about lemon poppy seed muffins (my favorite muffin!) or lemon poppy seed bread. The list of recipes goes on and on!

Ever since I created a lemon poppyseed yogurt cake for one of my books, I am addicted to this delicious combination. So I wanted to do more with these two ingredients.

Be prepared for more recipes with these ingredients coming up soon. It’s that bright lemon flavor that does it for me every single time.

What goes into the lemon poppy seed pancakes

These fluffy pancakes are not difficult to make. You will need the following:

• all purpose flour
• baking powder – the combination of baking powder and baking soda make for fluffier pancakes.
• baking soda
• sugar – there is not a lot of sugar used in this recipe. A mere teaspoon is all you need, but you’re welcome to add more if you like.
• lemon – for the lemon I use the zest as that has the most lemon flavor. If you want you can add a bit of lemon extract to increase the citrusy flavor.
• poppy seeds
• eggs – Medium eggs as always
• milk – whole milk. Sometimes I also use a little Greek yogurt instead of the milk.

For baking these pancakes I use melted butter, but you can also use oil if you prefer. I like the butter better as it browns all pancakes recipes better in my opinion.

How to make the pancakes

Take a large bowl and add the dry ingredients into the bowl. Mix it for a bit before adding the wet ingredients. Mix it all through. A few lumps is not a problem, it doesn’t have to be super smooth.

Now add enough butter into a large skillet (on medium heat) and add about a quarter of a cup of batter into the pan. I also like to use an ice cream scoop to pour batter into the pan.

Let it gently simmer on medium-low heat until the top of the pancake gets a bit dry and bubbly. At that point you can flip the pancakes and bake the other side until both sides are golden brown.

Add a little butter and repeat these steps with the remaining batter until all pancakes are done. You can serve the pancakes with fresh fruit, some warm maple syrup or a dusting of powdered sugar.

More Lemon Recipes

There will be more lemon and poppy seed recipes coming up soon but for now I do already have a few delicious lemon recipes lined up for you:

• Lemon curd
• Candied lemon slices
• Lemon bars
• Lemon loaf

I use my homemade almond paste recipe in my baked goods a lot and it’s really easy to make this paste yourself. I love baking with this delicious ingredient, especially during the holiday season. Recipes with this almond filling are very popular for Christmas and the Dutch holiday ‘Sinterklaas’.

Make your own almond paste

The almond paste recipe is very simple because it has a fixed ratio of almond flour to sugar. The amount of sugar and almond flour are always the same. Add a little egg and possibly some lemon zest to make it complete. I like the addition of lemon zest, but it’s optional. I share the simple steps in the recipe card down below, but first want to share some more information about the ingredients.

As you will see, my recipe has gram measurements. I did include a converter so you can see the ingredients in ounces. But I would advice to invest in a good scale, they aren’t expensive. It makes baking so much easier.

About the ingredients

I’ve seen that American recipes for almond paste are sometimes a bit different than the Dutch recipes, so I thought it would be helpful to tell a bit more about the ingredients and why some things are different. Both recipes are similar enough to use interchangeable. Let start with the simple ingredients in my recipe:

• Almond flour: The key ingredient! You can use store bought almond flour, or you can use my recipe for almond flour. It’s very easy to make, you only need almonds and a food processor. You could also use almond meal if you can’t find almond flour.
• Sugar:​ I like to use fine granulated sugar. Normal granulated sugar can be used as well.
• Egg:​ Beat your egg and use half of it for the recipe. No need to separate the egg and only use the yolk or egg whites.
• Lemon zest: This one is optional, but I like the fresh addition of the zest and always use it. I can recommend to try this out if you’ve never tried it before.

And that’s it. Simple isn’t it? But now for the differences according to the American recipes for almond paste I’ve seen:

• Sugar: I like to use my (fine) granulated sugar, but I’ve seen recipes with powdered sugar as well. Powdered sugar provides a finer texture, so If you like that it’s totally fine to make it this way. Fine granulated sugar gives a more coarse texture which I like. Fun fact: if you want to make homemade marzipan, you definitely should use icing sugar!
• Egg white:​ Most recipes only use egg whites. To be honest: that’s a perfect option as well. I’m just used to use a beaten egg.
• Almond extract: I was surprised to see almond extract in so many recipes. You can add it if you like a more intense almond flavor, but it’s not necessary at all because the almonds itself already have a rich almond flavor.

That’s all you need to know to make this homemade version of almond paste. The taste is amazing and way better than the packages of paste you can find in the baking aisle at your local grocery store.

Both in terms of ingredients and equipment, this recipe is simple. A bowl and a (wooden) spatula are all you need. And maybe a food processor or stand mixer if you want. Remember: make sure your ingredients are on room temperature before you start.

What is almond paste?

Almond paste is simply a mixture of mostly almonds and sugar. These are mixed together in equal parts with lemon zest and a little egg. The lemon zest is a flavoring and the egg ensures that the almond paste remains creamy and holds together well during baking.

The paste is used a lot in Dutch desserts. Think of Christmas cake, filled speculaas or cookies filled with almond paste. These are all delicious, typical Dutch treats with an almond paste filling.

But there’s more! I love a good almond cake myself. Oh, and have you tried almond croissants?! Make them at home with your homemade paste!

Why does it needs time to mature?

In my recipe you can read that for best results you should let the almond paste mature overnight in the refrigerator. By letting it ripen, the flavor becomes stronger and better. So if you start on time, it would be even better to let it mature in the fridge for a few days. No time at all? Just use the paste right away after you’ve made it, no problem at all.

Is almond paste the same as marzipan?

No, it is not the same. Marzipan contains proportionally more sugar, and the recipe calls for icing sugar instead of granulated sugar.

Can I make almond paste without almonds?

It’s pretty obvious the recipe calls for almonds, but maybe you’re allergic to almonds or just don’t like them very much. Fortunately, you can make an alternative paste without almonds. For example, you can replace the almonds with pecans, macadamia nuts, or pistachios.

Recipes with almond paste

If you’re making almond paste, you probably also need a recipe that uses almond paste. I have a few of those recipes which I will share with you. Most of them are Dutch recipes, we somehow love to bake with it.

• Dutch banketstaaf (almond paste filled pastry log)
• Gevulde speculaas (Dutch almond paste filled spiced cookie bars)
• Gevulde koeken (Dutch almond paste filled cookies)

Sometimes a question gets asked little or not at all, and then suddenly you get it several times a week. It is as if everyone suddenly has the same idea. I always find that rather peculiar. In this case, I’m talking about flavored buttercream or more specifically; how to flavor buttercream.

I think my basic buttercream recipe is absolutely fantastic but it is a basic recipe for a good reason. You can vary it endlessly! And with buttercream you can not only vary the flavor but also the color.

In terms of the different colors, you can simply use a gel food coloring, which is the easiest thing to do. But you can also use different ingredients for creating that effect while some methods also introduce a flavor along with the color. Another super easy way to do this is to add different extracts (like vanilla extract) to the buttercream.

So flavoring buttercream is not difficult but there are few things to consider.

What should you look out for?

There is a lot you can do when introducing different flavors into your buttercream, but also a few things you need to be aware of.

Depending on what you’re adding you could run the risk of the buttercream becoming too liquid or thin. Which is obviously something you don’t want.

Moisture and temperature

The two most important things to consider are moisture and temperature. Butter does not mix well with (too liquid) moisture, so neither does buttercream. A small amount of liquid is still an option, but it is wise to add this in portions.

Temperature is also really important. Make sure your flavor ingredients are at the same temperature as your homemade buttercream. If the temperatures are too different you run the risk of your buttercream splitting. Same goes for adding too much liquid.

Chocolate Flavor

Probably the most popular buttercream flavor is chocolate. And with good reason as chocolate buttercream frosting is easy to make and can be done in two different ways. The easiest way is to add unsweetened cocoa powder. Just add the powder to taste and you have the best buttercream frosting in chocolate flavor.

Another way to add chocolate is to add melted chocolate to the cream. Make sure you let the chocolate get to room temperature (just like the cream) and then fold it into the cream. You can use the bowl of a stand mixer if you want and do this at low speed with the whisk attachment. Although doing this by hand is just as easy.

You can make white chocolate cream this way (so good! I’ll share my recipe soon!) Or use your favorite chocolate bar, the sky’s the limit!

Fruit Flavors

Using fruit to flavor your buttercream is also very good, but can sometimes be a bit tricky. You can put pieces of fruit through the cream, which is easy (and tasty!). But if you don’t want pieces of fruit, but a fruit flavor, you have to be a bit more careful.

You will be using fruit puree or fruit juice, which brings me back to the question of moisture. In order to avoid the risk of the mixture splitting you can boil down your (for instance) strawberry puree for making strawberry buttercream to reduce the amount of liquid in the puree.

This way you have evaporated most of the moisture and you’re left with a more concentrated flavor and a thicker liquid. You want the right consistency between the frosting recipe and the flavor you’re adding.

Jam

An alternative is to use jam, which can also be used to flavor your buttercream. However, do not add too much. There will be a tipping point where your mixture becomes runny and it is difficult to predict when this will happen. So keep adding small amounts and test in between to see if the flavor is right. That is the best way to avoid having the mixture split.

More flavors

Now I have given you the tips for the requests I receive most often, but there is so much more you can do. Think about adding lemon curd for instance for a lemon flavor, nut pastes (peanut butter, almond paste and such) are also a great idea for a more nutty end result. Use a delicious caramel sauce (or dulce de leche!) for a caramel buttercream, sprinkle bits of cookies through it or make a chocolate cream with bits of fresh fruit.

The possibilities are endless, and that’s the fun part!

And perhaps most importantly, here is my basic buttercream recipe which is an ermine frosting recipe that is perfect for adapting to your needs! You can use this base for all kinds of flavor combinations.