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Lemon Crumble Bars

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Tangy lemon cream cheese filling on a sweet crumble crust and with an oat & brown sugar textured crumble topping.

Lemon Crumble Bars || SugarSpunRun

Please don’t tell me that summer’s almost over.  Please, no one point to the calendar and remind me that we are now officially halfway through August and in some places kids have already re-started school.

Tell me sweet, sunshiny lies about daylight stretching out past 8PM forever, about the possibilities of still having enough time to maybe take a beach trip and to establish a healthy summertime workout routine, that I don’t need to worry about chapped hands and lips and finding my winter coat.

Let’s talk about cookouts and sweet summer produce, about fire-engine-colored tomatoes falling heavy off the vine and plodding to the still-green ground, burgers popping and sizzling over a charcoal grill, and naturally buttery-sweet Ambrosia corn, truly aptly named and eaten off the cob, the only added seasoning a shy sprinkle of salt.

Lemon Crumble Bars || SugarSpunRun

If you won’t tell me these lies, these lemon squares just might.

I’m aware, as you probably are, that lemons aren’t even a summer harvest–they’re harvested in winter months.  But they come to fruition in lands of eternal summers, states that never see snow days (which actually, is the only good part of wintertime if you ask me, besides Christmas).  They are fruits that don’t know a true winter and can’t fathom frost, their happily-colored gem-like interiors shining sunnily, because to them winter as I know it doesn’t exist, and maybe that’s how they manage to be so eternally cheerful.

And they are cheerful little squares; their citrine centers are sharply tart and pleasantly sweet at the same time.  Mostly tart, though: the soft and creamy filling is tempered only barely by condensed milk and cream cheese and is unabashed in its flavor.

The crumb crust and topping supply a wonderful texture and the majority of the sweetness.  It’s a simple streusel-based crumb made of oats and brown sugar and butter, pressed into the bottom of a 9×9 pan and then sprinkled on top of the filling, sandwiching the lemon-y interior.  It’s a treat more refreshing than lemonade on a hot summer day, a supposed-winter fruit-filling that embodies summertime like nothing else.

Lemon Crumble Bars || SugarSpunRunLemon Crumble Bars || SugarSpunRun

I’ll let these tangy-sweet lemon squares fill my head with lies and just hope to float blissfully unaware through the days to an eternal summer.

4.38 from 8 votes
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Lemon Crumble Bars

Prep Time 25 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 12 squares

Ingredients

Crumble

  • 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
  • 1 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 12 Tbsp cold unsalted butter

Filling

  • 4 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature
  • 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Crust

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a 9x9 square pan with aluminum foil (enough so that the foil hangs over the sides so that the bars can be easily lifted out of the pan and cut when finished)
  2. In large bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, oats and salt until well-combined.
  3. Using a pastry cutter cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
  4. Press 2/3 of the crumble mixture into the bottom and partly up the sides of the prepared pan.
  5. Bake on 350F for 13 minutes, remove and allow to cool while the filling is prepared (do not turn off oven).

Filling

  1. In KitchenAid or with hand mixer beat cream cheese until creamed.
  2. Add condensed milk, and eggs, whisk well.
  3. Add in lemon juice and vanilla extract, whisk until mixture begins to thicken (about 2-3 minutes) and pour over the baked crumble base in 9x9 pan.
  4. Distribute remaining crumb mixture evenly over the top of the lemon filling.
  5. Bake on 350F for 15 minutes.
  6. After baking, allow bars to cool to room temperature before transferring to fridge and chilling 2-3 hours (if bars are difficult to cut after 2 hours, return to fridge and allow to cool 1 hour before checking again).

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Lemon Crumble Bars SugarSpunRun

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Comments

  1. These are stunning Sam! I love creamy lemony flavours, and these bars sound so perfect for me! My sweet tooth is in lemon heaven right now. They look so pretty and I love the look of the crumble on top! I definitely need to try this!

    Reply

    • Yikes, I don’t think I could handle a Minnesota winter… I’ve heard stories about their brutality! Thank you, Lauren!! 🙂

      Reply

  7. I totally know what you mean, it’s like you blink and summer is gone. I am looking forward to fall, but I’ll be sad to see summer go. I love lemon desserts, so these sound fantastic. I love the crumble on top too, such a great idea!

    Reply

  9. These lemon bars look so yummy! I love everything that goes into them, especially the lemons (and the sweetened condensed milk, even if I shouldn’t ). And I know about summer, it is quite depressing, last week we had 30 degrees (Celsius), during the past 3 days only 12 and continous raining… 🙁

    Reply

  12. Ugh, I feel the same way about summer ending. It’s such an incredible bummer. Someday, I’ll live in a warm beach town! Until then, lots of lemon crumble bars! 🙂

    Reply

  14. I can’t believe it either! Normally I would be dreading going back to work (I’m a teacher) but I’m still on maternity leave so luckily I get to pretend like it will be summer forever. I love lemon and crumble — these look perfect!

    Reply

  16. Ooh these definitely make it easier to pretend like summer will go on and on! I love the crumble topping and the fact that it’s a cheesecake filling. These look so yummy. Living in California, my lemon tree is always giving me tons of lemons to use so this looks like a year round recipe for me!! 😀

    Reply

  18. These look outrageously divine! Lemon is my all-time favorite flavor, so I would definitely love these! And, I know how sad it is to think that summer is coming to an end! We went back to school about 3 weeks ago. So, summer is pretty much gone for me. Bummer! But, on the bright side, these bars are a delicious way to remind us of summer! 😀

    Reply

  21. These are sooooo yummy – made them last night and my husband and I have already come close to eating half the pan (oops lol)! He liked them warm, right out of the oven (impatience took over). I think they were great warm or chilled like the directions say.

    Reply

    • Haha, these never last long in my house, either! I’m also incredibly impatient, so I can’t believe I didn’t think to try these warm but I’m going to have to try a square that way next time I make them! Thanks for commenting, Abbi! 🙂

      Reply

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