Grandma’s Lemon Bars
Every Christmas, my Grandma would make a tin of cookies for every single family in her brood. These tins would be stuffed with chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch cookies and lemon bars. I loved all of the cookies, but those lemon bars stand out the most. Tart and sweet, dusted with powdered sugar. Every bit was delicious and a little messy. I could never sneak lemon bars from the cookie tin because the tell-tale signs of powdered sugar would always be on my shirt.
My Grandma passed away in 2005. The picture below was taken 3 years prior during a vacation we took in Alaska. 
In memory of her, my aunt made a scrapbook for all of us kids of pictures of my Grandma Ann and few of her recipes. Thankfully, this lemon bar recipe was on there! I’ve made these once before, but they didn’t taste right. So this time, I enlisted the help of my mom who guided me through some of the steps.
The secret is the butter in the bottom layer. I could not figure out how to incorporate the butter with the dry ingredients in my previous attempt… so, I melted it in the microwave. The resulting crust was heavy. This time, my mom brought the butter to room temperature and cut it into squares. I added these squares, a couple at a time, to the flour mixture. Using a dough blender, I cut the butter in. The resulting mixture was grainy but compacted nicely when pressed into the pan.
These lemon bars are buttery and perfect for a Christmas cookie gift. I now share my Grandma’s recipe for Deluxe Lemon Bars with you!
Recommended Posts
JoAnn Crohn
CEO/Founder at No Guilt Mom
- Stop Meal Planning! Have your kids do it instead.
- How to Teach Kids to Pack Lunch
- Dread Grocery Shopping? The Ultimate No-Guilt Guide to How You Should Get Your Groceries
- 4 Simple Steps to Speed Up a Slow Eater
- It’s Your Birthday! 70+ Places To Go For Free Stuff
- 8 Items you MUST order at California Pizza Kitchen
- Light Saber Mocktails
- Minion Ice Cream
- Hangar Cafe
- Crock Pot Lasagna
- Eggo Waffle Bar
- Starbucks Secret Menu
I’m sorry to hear about your Grandma. What a wonderful thing your aunt did for you. These lemon bars look absolutely delicious! I’m definitely going to have to try them out! Shared & Pinned!
Thanks Tricia! They are mouthwateringly good. I plan on sneaking a few today at naptime.
They look so delicious! I love recipes like this that have been passed down from generation to generation.
Thanks Megan! My family is currently looking for my Grandma’s lasagna recipe 🙂
These look super good! I think my husband would love them 🙂
I love lemon bars, and this recipe looks amazing! How special to have the scrapbook and some of your grandma’s recipes.
it looks delicious
Oh these look absolutely wonderful!! I love sweets and this looks amazing. Loving Countdown2Xmas, so much fun!!!
Thanks for participating Heather! I’m loving it too. Getting to connect with all the other bloggers has been fabulous 🙂
You have the cutest blog! I love the pink chevron!
I love lemon bars, but never thought I could make them. They look difficult, but your tutorial makes it sound doable!!
Thanks so much for sharing the grandma love!!
They are pretty easy! I hope you try them 🙂
I love recipes that have meaning behind them. I can’t wait to try these for my family. Thank you for sharing!
These look so good! And the scrapbook was such a kind gift from your aunt. These handed down recipes are my favorite. Thanks for sharing a family treasure.
i love me a great lemon bar!!! Thanks for sharing a treasured family recipe 🙂
Oh. Not only do these look yummy, but I love that they have a story behind them. It makes it that much more special!
oh dear. this looks YUMMY. and such a sweet story to share with everyone! 😉
Lemon bars are wonderful! Your grandmother’s recipe looks delicious. I love the tart and sweet of the lemon and sugar. Thank you for sharing your family recipe.
these sound really yummy and really easy to make.thanks for sharing your story and recipe with us.
Thanks for stopping by Angela!
It is wonderful that your aunt made the book on your grandmom, it is difficult when someone you love passes, but you have memories and wonderful recipes to remember her by, I think these Lemon bars sounds great and thank you for sharing, looks like you grandmom had a wonderful time on your trip to Alaska
Thank you for your sweet words Dorothy! I love the scrapbook. I take it out every so often and share it with my daughter (who never knew my Grandma.) Thank you so much for stopping by 🙂
The lemon bars look delicious… goodness do I need to up my game and bake up a batch on Sunday! Love that you share a scrapbook of your grandmother and her recipes-what a lovely way to remember someone! Thanks for sharing!
In truth, I only make lemon bars so I can eat lemon bars 🙂