Who doesn’t love a lemon square? These gooey lemon chess bars are sweet, a little sticky, and have just the perfect amount of lemon flavor!
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If gooey lemon chess bars sounds like I couldn’t decide between calling my bars “lemon chess bars” or “gooey lemon butter bars”, well, it’s because that’s exactly what happened. Am I a bad Southerner if I admit that I have never ever had a “traditional” chess bar? Because I haven’t. So when a reader suggested that I make chess bars, I honestly wasn’t sure where to start.
I checked all my cookbooks. Every recipe included a cake mix. Now, I am not above a cake mix-they’re my cake ball bread and butter-but I wanted to make these from scratch. Try as I might, though, I could not find a recipe for chess bars from scratch. What? It was kind of like the pumpkin angel food cake incident…every single recipe that I happened upon started with a yellow cake mix.
Then…a funny thing happened. After comparing several recipes, I realized that chess bars and gooey butter bars are basically the same thing. Not even basically. They are the same. thing. So I started looking for from scratch gooey butter bars. The search was also basically fruitless, until I remembered the recipe for gooey cinnamon squares from my Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. It started with a cookie base then had a gooey topping. Hmmmm.
A little searching and I had settled on a recipe…Deb‘s cookie base with a cream cheese topping from Kevin & Amanda’s Recipes, with lemon for additional flavor and a bruleed sugar top. Bruleed sugar top? YES. These gooey lemon chess bars were chewy, sweet but not too sweet, and with a crunchy sugar top. Perfection.
Gooey lemon chess bars are perfect for an easy, portable dessert-you should make them!
Mary
Yield: 32 bars
Gooey Lemon Chess BarsThe cookie base is adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (<--that's an affiliate link) and the lemon cream cheese layer is adapted from Kevin and Amanda's Recipes .
20 minPrep Time:
40 minCook Time:
1 hrTotal Time:
Save Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cookie Base- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup milk
For the Lemon Cream Cheese Layer- 2 large eggs
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- juice and zest of one lemon
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 rectangular pan and set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. With an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add the egg and milk. Beat until well combined. Beat in the flour mixture a little at a time. Spread the mixture into the buttered pan.
- Clean out the mixing bowl. Cream together the cream cheese and eggs. Add the lemon and the powdered sugar a half cup at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Once the powdered sugar has been fully incorporated, spread over the cookie base.
- Sprinkle the top of the lemon cream cheese layer with the granulated sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until set. Turn the broiler on and brown until the sugar has all been bruleed, about five minutes.
- Cool the bars completely on a cooling rack then cut into squares and serve.
7.8.1.2251https://chattavore.com/gooey-lemon-chess-bars/
Mary
Yield: 32 bars
The cookie base is adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (<--that's an affiliate link) and the lemon cream cheese layer is adapted from Kevin and Amanda's Recipes .
20 minPrep Time:
40 minCook Time:
1 hrTotal Time:
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- juice and zest of one lemon
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 rectangular pan and set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. With an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add the egg and milk. Beat until well combined. Beat in the flour mixture a little at a time. Spread the mixture into the buttered pan.
- Clean out the mixing bowl. Cream together the cream cheese and eggs. Add the lemon and the powdered sugar a half cup at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Once the powdered sugar has been fully incorporated, spread over the cookie base.
- Sprinkle the top of the lemon cream cheese layer with the granulated sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until set. Turn the broiler on and brown until the sugar has all been bruleed, about five minutes.
- Cool the bars completely on a cooling rack then cut into squares and serve.
Print the recipe for gooey lemon chess bars!
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