A more indulgent version of traditional lemon bars (or squares), a pastry that consists of lemon curd baked over a shortbread crust. Mascarpone is added to the curd in this recipe to make the lemon bars creamy and richer.
Connie’s notes
What is mascarpone? It’s an Italian soft cheese and the traditional cheese used for making tiramisu.
Why add mascarpone to lemon bars? It’s a substitution for cream cheese. I was watching an episode of Anna Olson’s show one day, she made lemon bars and the addition of cream cheese to the curd really aroused my interest.
When I asked my daughter, Alex, to bake lemon bars a la Anna Olson, she told me we were out of cream cheese. I suggested she use the mascarpone in the fridge instead. The substitution turned out to be a resounding success.
To cut the lemon cheese bars perfectly, make sure to cool the baked pastry in the pan. Once it has cooled to room temperature, wrap the pan in cling film and chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Cut while cold.
Ingredients
Shortbread crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
Lemon curd
- ½ cup mascarpone at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups white sugar divided
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- 4 large eggs
To serve
- powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Line the bottom and sides of a 9″ x 9″ pan with parchment paper.
Make the shortbread crust
- Whisk the flour and sugar in a bowl.
- Drop in the cold butter and cut in until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Press the mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake at 350F for 18 to 20 minutes until lightly browned.
- Cool the crust while preparing the lemon curd.
Mix the lemon curd
- In a bowl, mix half cup of sugar with the mascarpone until smooth. Add another half cup of sugar and mix lightly.
- In another bowl, whisk the remaining half cup of sugar with the lemon zest.
- Combine the mascarpone mixture and lemon zest mixture, stirring just until smooth.
- Add the flour and baking powder and mix.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition.
- Stir in the lemon juice.
Assemble and bake
- Pour the lemon curd mixture over the cooled crust.
- Bake at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes until the top is dry, the edges are lightly browned and the center is just a little bit jiggly.
- Cool in the pan completely. Wrap the pan, chill the baked pastry in the fridge until firm, at least six hours, before cutting into rectangles, squares or triangles.
- Optionally, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
