These lemon cream cheese bars are made with only 5 ingredients! A quick and easy dessert that’s perfect for a large crowd.
Why You’ll Love These
- These can be enjoyed warm or cold!
- You can adjust this recipe to your exact liking. Because there are no eggs involved, you can taste the filling and adjust it until it’s perfect.
- If you’re not a huge fan of lemons, you can use oranges instead or simply omit the lemons. These sopapilla cheesecake bars taste really similar to these but it’s made without lemons.
Ingredient Notes For Lemon Cream Cheese Bars
Crescent Dough Sheets – These can be found in the dairy refrigerated section of your local supermarket. If you can’t find the crescent dough sheets, the original crescent dough is fine.
Cream Cheese – Make sure it’s softened.
Top Tips
- Start by adding only a pinch of lemon zest to the filling and work from there. If you like a stronger lemon taste, add more.
- Avoid lemon extract for this recipe.
- Let the bars cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing into them.
- Place any leftovers in an air-tight container and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.
How Much Lemon Juice Do I Need To Use?
I only used about 1/4 cup and it was plenty. Freshly squeezed lemon juice is highly recommended. Please avoid the lemon juice that comes in a bottle.
How Much Zest?
Lemon zest is very potent so 1/4 tsp goes a long way.
More Delicious Desserts You’ll Probably Enjoy
- Cream Cheese Nutella Cookies
- Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
- Cream Cheese Banana Muffins
- Salted Caramel Cheesecake
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. And consider following me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Lemon Cream Cheese Bars
Ingredients
- 2 8 ounce crescent dough sheets refrigerated
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 8 ounce packages cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp lemon zest or to taste
Topping
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, mix the lemon juice, lemon zest, cream cheese, and 1 cup sugar. Mix well. Taste it and adjust it to your liking. You can add more lemon zest or sugar.
- Unroll one can of crescent dough and press it into the bottom of the baking dish. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the crescent dough and spread evenly with a spatula.
- Unroll the second can of crescent dough and place it on top of the cream cheese mixture. Pour the melted butter over the top of the dough and spread evenly using a pastry brush.
- Sprinkle 3 tbsp of sugar over the top evenly. Bake for 35 minutes uncovered.
- Allow cooling for 20 minutes before slicing into it and enjoy!
Notes
- Start by adding only a pinch of lemon zest to the filling and work from there. If you like a stronger lemon taste, add more.
- Avoid lemon extract for this recipe.
- Let the bars cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing into them.
- Place any leftovers in an air-tight container and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.
it all tasted amazing, however 350° for 20 minutes didn’t allow enough time for the top to set. It took 35 minutes for me.