Vintage Recipe: Lemon Cream Bars
One of my favorite pastimes is scanning through old cookbooks and recipe cards collected from estate sales and flea markets and trying new recipes, especially sweet treat recipes.
Just when I thought I had my favorite lemon bar recipe, here comes a super simple seven-ingredient lemon cream bar recipe from an old Down Home Cookin' cookbook (photo of recipe card at the bottom). There's no date to be found in this cookbook, but if I had to guess, it's from the early to mid-80s. The best part about these older recipes is that the ingredients list often calls for items traditionally found in your pantry.
Love lemon flavored treats too? You might like these:
A couple of notes for tastier lemon bars:
While not necessary, fresh lemon juice will always take baked goods to the next level. But bottled lemon or lime juice will work just fine!
Try not to overwork the crumble mixture. If it's overworked, you run the risk of it turning into a paste, and then the oat mixture won't give you that crumbly texture that makes these lemon bars the perfect ratio of creamy, smooth, and crunchy.
7 Ingredient Lemon Cream Bars
Ingredients:
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oats
1 cup (firmly) packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup butter, softened
Optional - zest of one lemon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper on hand, grease your pan.
Mix the sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice in a small bowl until well combined. If adding lemon zest, mix it in here.
In a separate bowl, toss together the flour, oats, brown sugar, and baking powder. After mixing well, add the softened butter and mix until it resembles pea-sized gravel.
Press half of the crumbs into your pan, creating a base, and then pour the lemon mixture over it. Finally, sprinkle the other half of the crumble mixture on top.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the top turns a nice golden brown.
Let cool, cut into bars, and enjoy!
These are best if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
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