This Lemon Cheesecake Bars recipe is perfect for the springtime! Lemon Cheesecake Bars are bright and refreshing for those warm spring days and are great to share with friends and family.
The Pictorial Process
Lemon Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
- Crust
- 9 graham crackers (about 5 oz.) – 1 pack from box
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (½ stick)
- 1/2 lb. cream cheese (8 ounce pack)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 or 2 lemons)
- 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest (from 1 or 2 lemons)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 or 3 lemons)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Cheesecake
Lemon Curd
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Crust
- Break the graham crackers into a food processor and process until finely ground.
- Add the melted butter and pulse until the mixture resembles damp sand.
- Transfer the crumbs to a 8×8 pan and press them firmly and evenly into the pan. Set aside.
- Combine the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a food processor or stand mixer. Process until smooth.
- Add the eggs and process until the mixture is smooth and blended.
- Pour the cheesecake mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake until the sides are slightly puffed and the center is dry to the touch, about 40 minutes.
- Make lemon curd while cheesecake is baking.
- Prepare the ingredients in a double boiler bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs slowly.
- Add the lemon juice.
- Place the double boiler on medium heat.
- Stir mixture frequently with wooden spoon or spatula until curd is steaming (not boiling) and thickened. Curd will be thick enough to stick to back of spoon.
- Remove curd from heat and top double boiler pan from bottom to stop curd from continuing to cook.
- Adding lemon last to mixutre should have preventing eggs from lumping, but if there are lumps from the eggs pour the curd through the strainer to get rid of any lumps.
- When the cheesecake comes out of the oven, pour all of the curd onto the cheesecake. Shake pan to even out lemon curd or use spatula.
- Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, preferably overnight. You can refrigerate it uncovered, as no detectable skin forms on the curd.
Cheesecake
Lemon Curd
- NOTES
- I used a stand mixer to combine the cheesecake filling. When using a stand mixer the mixture doesn’t come out completely smooth, there are some small cream cheese lumps. They generally smooth out after it’s baked though and doesn’t make a big difference.
- The bake time of the cheesecake is for an electric oven. I used a gas oven this time and it doesn’t seem to heat too evenly. It took 55 minutes to fully cook the cheesecake through. I’ve used an electric oven previously and 40 minutes was accurate.
The Taste Test
The lemon cheesecake bars are a sweet and tart treat that I personally love. It’s not too sweet because the tartness from the lemons really offset the cheesecake. They pair together very nicely. I’ve shared these on a couple of different occasions to friends and family and they’ve been a hit!
The lemon bars are a little difficult to serve so I’m figuring out how to make individual servings of them in muffin tins. I have attempted previously to cut down on the amount of sugar in the recipe, but it was a disaster. The cheesecake filling without enough sugar was too bland and the curd without enough sugar tampered with the consistency. I may attempt to alter the sugar again and if I have any success I’ll definitely share the good news!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time, eat well!
~Kristina