I’m a huge fan of lemon squares, and homemade ones are the best! Some links in this post are affiliate links that earn me a commission if you purchase through them.
Little Miss has a dairy allergy, which means I adapt a ton of recipes to work for her. When it comes to baked goods, it generally isn’t that hard, as I’ve gotten really experienced at working with coconut oil and other alternatives.
Most of the time, I make what sounds good to me, but sometimes I let her choose what she wants me to make.
Birthday treats is a perfect example. At our school, they still let us bring in treats to celebrate our kids’ birthdays.
They can even be homemade (witness the Minecraft cake squares I made for Mister Man last year), which means that Little Miss ends up with nothing on a fairly regular basis.
Not cool, right? Good news is that our school also allows me to bring in alternatives for her and store them in the staff lounge’s freezer so her teacher can pull them out as needed.
Typically, I send in cupcakes that are left over from a celebration at home since they’re easy and I already have them on hand. I’m not quite sure what happened at the beginning of this school year, but I had no cupcakes in my freezer – an unheard of situation.
I asked Little Miss what she wanted me to send in for her birthday, and she didn’t even hesitate when she asked for lemon squares.
Lemon squares? A nine year old wants lemon squares as her special treat over cake and chocolate?
I never said I had a typical child. Who am I to deny her though?
I had made lemon squares a month or so earlier for a friend’s get together and saved just one for Little Miss, and apparently it made an impact.
I had chosen purposefully to use coconut oil because the slight hint of coconut really paired well with the lemon to take the lemon squares up a notch. They.were.amazing.
Of course, if you’re a traditionalist, make this recipe with butter instead of the coconut oil in a one to one swap. But think about that coconut oil because it really made for some awesome lemon squares.
Best of all? This recipe comes together pretty quickly and is easy to make, which means that Little Miss had fun helping me put it together. Watching her face as she made her own special treat really made my day.
And the lemon squares? I’m pretty sure they made hers!
What can I say, we love lemon around here! That’s why my mom asked for a white cake for her birthday with lemon curd filling.
Oh my word was that amazing. My son is already asking me to make my baked lemon donuts for his next birthday. I can’t say I’m unhappy about this trend!
How to Make Lemon Squares
(Note, I made these first in an 8×8 pan, but we loved them so much that I updated the recipe to make enough to fill a 9×13 pan – and make my family happy)
Make the crust
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Make your crust first. If your house is cool and your coconut oil is completely solid, place it in a glass dish in your microwave and warm it in 10 second increments until it is softened but not liquidy.
Add 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and salt to a bowl and mix until combined. Add the coconut oil and mix until crumbly and you can’t see the coconut oil.
Scoop your dough into a 9×13 pan, and press gently into all the corners. You want to make as even a layer as you can.
Bake your crust at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, until your crust is lightly golden. You want it to look a little dry around the edges.
Make the filling
While your crust is baking, make the filling, as you will pour it into your crust as soon as the crust has finished baking. In a new bowl, add your eggs and egg yolks and whisk until frothy.
Add the remaining 2 cups of granulated sugar, as well as the flour and lemon zest. Continue whisking until incorporated and the mixture has a consistent quality.
Add the lemon juice and whisk until the filling is light in texture.
When your crust is baked, reduce your oven temperature to 300 degrees. Immediately pour the lemon filling over your crust and return it to the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes until your filling is no longer jiggly when you wiggle the pan in the oven. At that point, remove your lemon squares.
Cool your pan on a rack until they reach room temperature.
In the past, I struggled with how to cut them and keep them neat. I finally found that I had my best success when I cut them once the bars reach room temperature.
I then place them in the fridge for a few hours until they completely set. Only then do I remove them from the pan (after I sprinkled them with powdered sugar).
These will keep in the fridge in a covered container for up to three days. Separate layers with wax paper to keep them from sticking to each other as you remove them. They also freeze for up to a month.
Lemon Squares {Dairy Free}
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 12 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the filling:
- 4 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup lemon juice
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Make crust first: Add flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt to a bowl and mix until combined. Add coconut oil and mix until crumbly.2 cups flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 12 tablespoons coconut oil
- Place dough in 9x13 pan and make an even layer. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, until crust is lightly golden.
- Make filling while crust bakes. Add eggs and egg yolks to bowl and whisk until frothy. Add remaining 2 cups granulated sugar, with flour and lemon zest. Whisk until incorporated. Add lemon juice and whisk until light in texture.4 eggs, 2 egg yolks, 2 cups sugar, 1/3 cup flour, zest of 1 lemon, 1 cup lemon juice
- Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Immediately pour lemon filling over crust and return to oven. Bake 30 minutes until your filling no longer jjggles, then remove.
- Cool in pan on a rack until room temperature. Cut bars, then place pan in fridge until completely set. Then sprinkle with powdered sugar and remove from pan.Powdered sugar
Notes
- If you prefer, you can use butter in place of the coconut oil in a one to one swap, but the coconut is a perfect complement to the lemon in these bars.
- These will keep in the fridge in a covered container for up to three days. Separate layers with wax paper to keep them from sticking to each other as you remove them. They will also freeze for up to a month.
- For more tips and tricks, be sure to read the full article above.
Nutrition
This site uses an online source to provide nutrition estimates as a courtesy. If you need exact values, please calculate yourself.
Thanks for great recipe! I tried cutting bars at room temp as described but found that knife seemed to butcher recipe so I stopped to put entire pan in fridge. After 2hrs, still couldn’t cut. Any advice?
When you put them in the first, the base gets really solid! I generally do one of two things – I use my bench scraper to cut them, which means just pushing straight down and not cutting “through” the bars, or I use a really sharp knife. Either way, I generally have warm water handy to clean off my knife or bench scraper to ensure the filling doesn’t stick to it excessively and make the rest hard to cut. Does that make sense? I do prefer to use my bench scraper to cut – it’s one of my favorite kitchen tools ever, and I use it for EVERYthing!
These are a favorite!! Thank you for sharing
I do half the sugar because my family likes them TART!
Oh that is such good news! I’m so glad you love them – and yep, I often tone down the sugar, too. These always are a hit no matter what.
I am hoping to make these soon. They look delicious. The recipe calls for brown sugar. Is it supposed to be packed? Also,
why does the recipe call for 12 tablespoons of coconut oil as apposed to 3/4 cup? Thank you for any help you can give me. Regards!
Yep – always pack your brown sugar! 12 T and 3/4 cup are the same thing. It was honestly just chance that I put 12 T instead of 3/4 cup. I honestly generally measure my coconut oil by weight rather than putting it into a measuring cup because it’s so hard to pack it properly. Each tablespoon is a half ounce, so 12 T is the same as 6 ounces, which is my easy measurement trick!
Fresh squeezed lemon juice? Or bottled?
You can use either technically. I prefer fresh squeezed juice (and it’s what I use) because it tastes fresher and generally is a bit stronger – I like mine flavorful! But I know not everyone has easy access to fresh lemon juice. If you can though… 🙂
I’ve had a lot of lemon squares in my time but these are the best. The directions and cooking time are right on. Just an FYI I popped my squares out of the pan once they got to room temp and used a knife I ran under hot water first then cut them. It worked perfectly. I ran out of coconut oil (You’re so right coconut and lemon together is delicious) so I made a second batch with butter flavoured shortening and they came out excellent as well. Thank you for this recipe. Can’t wait to serve it to all my girlfriends at our party later today!
Aww thank you! I’m so glad to hear – this is the kind of comment that makes my day. I hope everyone enjoyed the lemon squares.
These are incredible. I used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure gluten-free flour, and they taste amazing. Everyone who has had one loves them, with or without food sensitivities. Thank you!
Those are the best recipes – the ones everyone loves whether or not they have food sensitivities. I’m so glad everyone loved them 🙂
Can this be made with almond flour? Has anyone had luck do it?
I have not ever made this with almond flour, but it would be worth a try. If you do try it, let me know how it works for you!