No Bake Creamy Lemon Blueberry Square Bars from Scratch
This no bake lemon square bars recipe shows you how to make them from scratch. It has a cookie crust base, a creamy tart lemon cream with blueberry sauce swirled into to it.
Belula
September 29, 2021
This is an easy lemon square bars recipe. It takes almost no time to put together, no oven required, as it is completely no bake, and it is delicious. Made with a press in cookie crust, topped with the creamiest tart lemon cream, and topped with homemade blueberry sauce that you swirl into the cream. All you need to do is wait until it has set and is properly chilled to dig in and enjoy! It was a total hit with my neighbours (my official recipe testers) and I hope you will love these blueberry lemon square bars as much as they did!
Ingredient and utensils notes
- Cookies: I recommend lotus biscoff cookies for the crust. You can replace with graham crackers or make these lemon bars with homemade shortbread crust.
- Gelatine: the recipe calls for gelatine sheets. You can replace them with gelatine powder too.
- Blueberries: frozen blueberries are perfect for the sauce
- Lemons: use good quality lemons with lots of flavour such as Meyer lemons.
- A 20 cm (8 inch) square cake ring or a 20 cm (8 inch) cake pan lined with parchment paper.
How to make this creamy lemon bars recipe
Making this recipe is easy. You simply must
- Make the press in cookie crust.
- Make the blueberry sauce and set aside.
- Make the lemon cream, which uses the same technique as a pastry cream, but instead of milk it uses a combination lemon juice and melted butter as a base for the cream.
- Swirl in the blueberry sauce and refrigerate overnight.
- Remove the cake ring
- On a cutting board, cut into 5x5 cm squares.
Recipe notes
- To make the cookie crumbs you can either use a food processor or do it manually if you don't have one. Place the cookies inside a Ziploc bag, then using a rolling pin tap the bag until the cookies turn into crumbs! It is kind of therapeutical too!
- When making the blueberry sauce, as it is a small quantity, it goes very fast. Stay close and don't let it get too thick, or you'll end up with a jam like consistency. Not to liquid either because it will also make your lemon cream a little runny.
- After you bring the lemon juice, zest and butter to a boil pour over the eggs/corn-starch/sugar mixture and whisk until combined. Strain this mixture over the pan and bring to a boil once again. This will help remove any egg impurities present in the cream and make your cream extra smooth!
- Gelatine must be hydrated in ice cold water for about 10 minutes. Then squeezed to remove excess water before mixing into the lemon cream.
- Use an off-set spatula to evenly spread the lemon cream over the crust.
- Using a spoon cover the lemon cream with little drops of blueberry sauce. Then use a knife or skewer to swirl the sauce into these tart lemon bars.
- Let the creamy lemon bars refrigerate overnight. They must be eaten when very cold. It is a game changer.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the square lemon bars
How to store lemon bars
This square lemon blueberry bars must be placed in a hermetic container and stored in the refrigerator. They keep for up to 4 days.
Can you freeze lemon bars?
These lemon bars can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
To defrost: place in the refrigerator overnight.
Making ahead
Cookie crust: you can prepare 1 day in advance
Blueberry sauce: can be made up to 5 days in advance. Remove from the fridge and if necessary warm up a little to lighten it up before swirling into the lemon cream.
Lemon cream: must be made once the cookie crust is ready to be able to spread it over it and properly set in the cake ring.
Variations to this no bake recipe
- You can make these raspberry lemon bars by simply replacing the blueberries in this recipe with raspberries.
- You can make this a simple lemon bars recipe by leaving out the blueberry sauce.
- You can make these lemon bars with shortbread crust instead of using cookie crust.
The ingredients used in all recipes on this site are measured using the metric system. I use a
scale to be precise with my measurements and ensure good results. If you would also like to use a scale, here are some:
USA,
Canada,
UK,
Australia,
France.
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Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 16 square bars
Nutrition: 225 cal
Cuisine: French
Cookie Crust
-
Lotus Biscoff Buiscits
250 g
-
Butter
100 g
Lemon Cream
-
Lemon Juice
125 g
-
Lemon Zest
(the zests of 3 lemons)
3
-
Butter
125 g
-
Eggs
(large)
3
-
Sugar
120 g
-
Corn Starch
5 g
-
Gelatin Sheet
(or gelatin powder 3 g)
1
Blueberry Sauce
-
Blueberries
75 g
-
Sugar
20 g
-
Water
15 g
-
Fresh Blueberries
125 g
- 1. Prep the materials: Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place the square cake ring on it.
- 2. Make the crust: Using the food processor pulse the cookies into crumbs. Add the melted butter and mix to combine. Place inside the cake ring and press it down until the whole surface is evenly covered with the crust. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- 3. Make the blueberry sauce: Bring all the ingredients to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened a little.
- 4. Make the lemon cream: Hydrate the gelatine sheet in ice cold water. In a small pot bring 50 grams of sugar, the strained lemon juice, the lemon zests, and the butter to a boil. In the meantime, whisk the sugar with the corn-starch and the eggs. Whisk in the boiling lemon juice/butter over the egg's mixture. Strain the mixture over the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat mixing to prevent the cream from sticking to bottom of the pan. Once it has boiled, cook for 1 extra minute whisking energetically. Remove from the stove and whisk in the hydrated gelatine.
- 5. Assemble the tart: Pour over the cooled cookie crust evenly distribute the cream until it has covered the whole surface of the pan. Spoon dollops of blueberry sauce over the lemon cream unevenly. Then swirl it into the lemon cream using a knife. Refrigerate overnight, until the cream has completely set and is chilled.
- 6. Slice the tart: Remove the square cake ring by passing a knife between the ring and the lemon tart bars. Place on a cutting board and cut into squares of 5 cm using a sharp knife. Enjoy!
If you made this recipe I would really appreciate it if you leave a rating or comment below! Also, if you share on social media please use #cookwithbelula, I would love to see what you create!
Hi, I was just curious about the texture of the lemon cream—is it jelly-like and custard-y, or is it hard as a result of being in the refrigerator? Also does it have a tart flavour or is it more sweet?
Hi Jacky!
The texture is super creamy, not jelly like at all! And it does not turn out hard after being refrigerated. It has a small amount to gelatin in it taht helps it hold up and still allowing it to be creamy like! It has more of tart flavour to it in my opinion.
Hope this helps!