Loaded Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Loaded lemon cheesecake bars absolutely brimming with fresh lemon zing. Lemon graham cracker crust, lemon infused granulated sugar, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. If you love lemon and cheesecake. These bars are for you!

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There is just something about feeding other people. Not only is there satisfaction in baking something incredible, it’s watching someone (especially someone you love) eat something, moan and groan thoroughly enjoying what you just baked. A wide smile, toothy and thrilled spreads across my face when I see my fiance enjoy something that way.

I used to think that he was just blowing smoke up my a$$, saying nice things because that is what a good partner is supposed to do. But then I realized, he’s like me. I don’t give compliments out unless I truly mean them and neither does he. So when he says it’s good. It’s good. And this man knows a lot about food.

He’ll often bring leftover treats into work or give them to his friends since we can’t always eat everything and we don’t need to eat everything. But they always make some sort of comment along the lines of, “how are you not heavier?! Everything Kelley bakes tastes so good, how do you not eat it all?” Super flattering to me of course, but that’s just it. We don’t eat everything, we enjoy most everything in moderation – sometimes going overboard of course, but we exercise and share treats with as many people as we can.

These lemon cheesecake bars however, we ate the whole batch in a matter of days… luckily it’s a small batch.

so fluffy, light, and airy – this is like eating a lemon cloud

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Recipe Notes:

Use Fresh Lemons:

If you want the lemon flavor to punch you in the face, fresh lemons are the way to go. This recipes utilizes the zest and juice in three ways. Compost the rest for no waste!

Water Baths & Cheesecakes, it’s a whole thing:

I love making cheesecake bars instead of a round cheesecake. It is so much easier to do a water bath with bars. Using an 8×8 metal baking dish I can just plop it into an 9×13 baking dish, fill with an inch of hot water and stick it in the oven. No messing around with foil, finding water bath pans that fit a round springform. It’s great!

Why Room Temperature is Important:

This really helps to ensure ingredients are evenly mixed which leads to them being evenly baked. We all forget to pull out butter, eggs, creams/milks, other ingredients before baking. It happens.

• If you forget to pull out eggs: add warm water to a bowl, gently drop eggs into the bowl of warm water for 5-7 minutes. If you don’t care if they’re cold, just throw the eggs in the batter and mix well. As long as you see the egg yolk break and mix really well, it will turn out just fine.
• Cream Cheese: Remove them from their paper packaging and allow to come up to room temp on the counter. OR use instructions on the inside of the Philadelphia Cream Cheese packages to warm it in the microwave. I will use a plate, remove both packages of cream cheese from the foil and place them close to the outside of the plate. Microwave for 12 seconds. If they need longer, flip them over and microwave in additional 6 second bursts

Why Salted Butter instead of Unsalted Butter:

I know people think I’m crazy for doing this but it’s how I’ve done it forever, maybe I am a little crazy and I’m okay with that. Ya know the old adage, don’t fix what’s not broken? Well that’s this. Since I use Kosher Salt and recommend it in my recipes, using salted butter evens out/balances the salt level I’m looking for in my cooking and baking. You’re more than welcome to use unsalted butter if you prefer, or if it’s all you have. Just know you will need to add more kosher salt to the recipe – starting with ½ teaspoon or so. Or use unsalted butter and regular iodized table salt; using about ½ teaspoon or so of table salt. See notes below on the difference.

Why use Kosher Salt in Baking:

We made the swap to kosher salt a long time ago and I’m so glad we did! It’s so much more versatile, cleaner and less salty tasting, no additives, larger flaked, and dissolves evenly into dishes – baked or cooked. Kosher salt weighs less than regular table salt, so a 1:1 ratio conversion will not work, you’ll need more kosher salt than you would table salt.

Step by Step Instructions:

Make Lemon Infused Sugar & Line 8×8 Baking Dish:

Prepare Graham Cracker Crust:

Prepare Lemon Cheesecake Filling:

Water Bath & Bake Lemon Cheesecake Bars:

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