Lemon Cream Cheese Bars with a lemon cake mix crust, a vanilla cream cheese filling and a lemon cream cheese topping. Simple and delicious layered lemon bar recipe!
What are lemon cream cheese bars?
Lemon Cream Cheese Bars are a little bit different than traditional lemon bars. Traditional lemon bars have a shortbread crust and a lemon curd filling. These Lemon Cream Cheese Bars have a cookie crust that is made with a lemon cake mix. The middle layer is made by mixing vanilla frosting with cream cheese and the top layer is made with lemon juice and cream cheese. These bars are kind of a cross between lemon bars and lemon cheesecake!
Ingredients in Lemon Cream Cheese Bars
CRUST
Lemon cake mix – Any lemon cake mix will work. Should be 15.25 ounce box.
Butter – Real butter works best. Make sure to melt it before adding to the cake mix.
Egg – Needed to make the cookie layer for the base of the lemon bars.
FILLING
Vanilla frosting – Frosting in the can works great in this recipe. You need a 16 ounce can, but you can use any variety of vanilla that you’d like.
Cream cheese – I usually use regular cream cheese, but you can use low-fat or non-fat cream cheese if you prefer. Make sure the cream cheese is completely softened before mixing with the frosting.
Egg – Needed to create the right consistency for the filling, so don’t leave it out!
TOPPING
Cream cheese – Again, you can use regular, low-fat or non-fat cream cheese. Needs to be completely softened so that it will mix well with the other ingredients.
Butter – The butter for the topping needs to be softened to room temperature, but not melted.
Powdered sugar – Adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the topping layer.
Vanilla extract – The higher quality of vanilla, the better!
Lemon juice – You can use bottled lemon juice or squeeze some fresh lemon juice from a lemon. Either one works great!
How to make Lemon Cream Cheese Bars
Preheat oven to 350°. Line 9X13 with parchment paper.
Crust: In a large bowl, stir together the cake mix, melted butter and egg. Press firmly into prepared pan.
Filling: Stir together the frosting and softened cream cheese. Add the egg and stir, but don’t beat, until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture over cake mix mixture and spread to the edges.
Bake for 30 minutes or until edges are slightly browned and set. The middle should still be slightly jiggly. The filling will set more as it cools. Let pan cool to room temperature.
Topping: Beat all topping ingredients together in a bowl with an electric mixer. Carefully spread the topping over the cooled cream cheese layer. Chill for at least 2 hours before lifting the bars from the pan and slicing into squares.
Lemon Cream Cheese Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 box lemon cake mix
- 1 stick butter melted
- 1 large egg
Filling
- 1 can vanilla frosting 16 oz
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 egg
Topping
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 4 Tbsp butter room temp
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line 9X13 pan with parchment paper.
- Crust: In a large bowl, stir together the cake mix, melted butter and egg. Press firmly into prepared pan.
- Filling: Stir together the frosting and softened cream cheese. Add the egg and stir, but don’t beat, until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture over cake mix mixture and spread to the edges.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until edges are slightly browned and set. The middle should still be slightly jiggly. The filling will set more as it cools. Let pan cool to room temperature.
- Topping: Beat all topping ingredients together in a bowl with an electric mixer. Carefully spread the topping over the cooled cream cheese layer. Chill for at least 2 hours before lifting the bars from the pan and slicing into squares.
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HOW TO GET THE JUICE OUT OF A LEMON
I often use bottled lemon juice in this recipe, but it’s very easy to get fresh lemon juice if you prefer! To get the juice from a lemon, I just cut the lemon in half and squeeze it really hard. You can also use a citrus press like this one to get all the juice out of the lemon.
HOW TO ZEST A LEMON
You can also add a little more lemon flavor to the recipe by adding some lemon zest to the filling and/or the topping.
Don’t be intimidated about getting the zest from a lemon – it’s really easy! And fresh lemon zest adds such an amazing lemon flavor to recipes!
Lemon zest is just tiny pieces of the outside of the peel of a lemon. I just use the small side of a regular cheese grater – as long as the holes are tiny, it will work just fine. You can also use a citrus zester like this one if you prefer! Either way, make sure to just grate the darker yellow outer layer of the lime peel. Once you have revealed the lighter part of the peel underneath, rotate the lemon and start grating another part of the outer layer.
HOW DO YOU SOFTEN CREAM CHEESE?
Cream cheese is easy to soften – you can set it out at room temperature or soften it more quickly in the microwave.
-To soften at room temperature more quickly, just set the cream cheese on a plate and cut into smaller pieces. The cream cheese should reach room temperature in about 15-20 minutes with this method.
-To soften the cream cheese in the microwave, remove the foil packaging and set the cream cheese in a small bowl or on a plate. Microwave for about 10-15 seconds. If the cream cheese is still cold and hard, continue to microwave for about 5 seconds at a time until the cream cheese is soft throughout. Just make sure not to microwave it too long or it will start to melt!
ENJOY LEMON DESSERTS? SO DO WE! HERE ARE MORE YOU CAN TRY:
- Easy Lemon Quick Bread
- Lemon Poke Cake
- Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake
- Lemon Ice Box Pie
- Glazed Mini Lemon Cupcakes
- Lemon Butter Bars Recipe
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Raspberry Muffins
- Lemon Buttermilk Bread
- Lemon Pudding Cookies
- Lemon Lush Dessert
Lemon Cream Cheese Bars with a lemon cake mix crust, a vanilla cream cheese filling and a lemon cream cheese topping. Simple and delicious layered lemon bar recipe!
Natalie says
Oh my… these bars look gorgeous. And so delicious. This is the perfect treat to welcome Spring with. I will have to make this.
Katie says
These look like something that my family would be all over. Can’t wait to try these.