Lemon Bars – Don’t Buy The Mix Lemon Bars – Forget The Mix

When it is time to decide on what to make for dessert, choose lemon bars. Why? Why not! When made right, lemon bars are delicious. The right combination of fruit and butter. The surprising thing is that lemon bars are really easy to make.

With a family of kids running in and out of your kitchen, you need to have a quick recipe for lemon bars. I don’t always feel like cooking is going to be a lot of fun. Krusteaz makes lemon bar mixes that you can pick up at the grocery store. I have been using their other mixes for some time now and thought i’d give it a try. Not to mention it is only $2 for the mix. After making dinner, I decided it was time to make lemon bars. I flipped the box over and read through the ingredient list and the directions.

The list of ingredients was short: square pan, non-stick spray, 1/2 cup water, 3 eggs and powdered sugar. Seems pretty easy and quick. To make lemon bars from scratch is pretty easy too…you just need a couple more ingredients. I will get to that later in the article, however.

Back to the lemon bar mix. I preheated my oven, opened the mix and poured it into my sprayed pan. It was so easy to make the lemon bar crust. All you need to do to make the sweet, buttery shortbread crust is press the mix firmly into the pan and bake it for about 8 minutes. To make the lemon bar filling, you mix the contents of the filling packet with 1/2 cup water and 3 eggs and whisk it together. Try not to over whisk it. After the crust has baked, pour the prepared filling into the pan then bake for the prescribed time. After it has baked, dust with powdered sugar, if you desire. Interestingly, there is no need for fresh lemon juice…this was a big red flag for me.

The flavor was good, but it still tasted like it came from a box and you don’t really save that much time by using a box. The baked lemon filling is rich and tart. If you dust your dessert with powdered sugar, it will temper the tartness a little bit with sweetness. The crust, which is my favorite part, is slightly sweet and buttery and melts in your mouth. I prefer crust from scratch, however.

So, what’s the verdict – lemon bars from a mix or from scratch? Although, this lemon bar mix was cheap, I would not buy it again. I’d prefer to make it from scratch. It tastes much better from scratch.