These easy and delicious high altitude lemonies are soft, moist and chewy, frosted with fluffy lemon buttercream. Plenty of fresh lemon zest and lemon juice infuses the cookie bars with bright lemon flavor. And the beautiful piped buttercream transforms these from simple lemon cookie bars into an elegant dessert. Whether you call them lemon brownies, lemon blondies or lemonies, you’ll love these beautiful lemon treats!
You might also love these soft lemon cookies with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts, lemon cupcakes, and lemon poppy seed crumb muffins.
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What are Lemonies?
Just the most luscious lemon treat ever! The batter is easy to whisk up, like a cake batter, but bakes into moist, chewy, slightly dense lemon cookie bars that have the most addictive texture and flavor. Ice them with a tart lemon glaze, or get fancier with piped lemon buttercream. And if you’re wondering if these are similar to classic lemon bars, no, they’re not. Lemon bars have a shortbread crust with a silky, gooey lemon filling similar to lemon curd. Today’s lemon blondies are a totally different, but no less delicious dessert.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Lemon Cookie Bars
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture, and balances the acidity of the lemons.
- Lemons. You’ll need fresh lemon zest and juice for these lemon bars.
- All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure to the batter.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Baking Powder. Adds a bit of lift, but not too much since the texture should be dense and chewy, not cakey.
- Eggs. Adds structure.
- Unsalted Butter. Contributes moisture, fat and flavor.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Lemon Buttercream
- Unsalted Butter. Adds fat and a rich, buttery flavor to buttercream.
- Fresh Lemon Zest. Flavor.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
- Lemon Extract + Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Instructions
Prepare the baking pan.
- Preheat the oven to 350, and line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. These bars are very moist and sticky, and the parchment paper ensures easy release from the pan. You can also grease your pan with non-stick baking spray, if you prefer.
Rub the lemon zest into the sugar.
- In a bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest, then use your hands to rub the zest into the sugar to infuse the lemon flavor into the sugar. The sugar should look like damp sand. If you skip this step, you won’t get as much lemon flavor into the cookie bars, although they’ll still be delicious.
Whisk in the remaining ingredients.
- Whisk in the flour, salt and baking powder.
- Add the lemon juice, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract, and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake the lemon bars on the center oven rack for about 25 minutes, just until set and gently puffed. Set aside to cool completely before cutting into squares and frosting.
Make the buttercream and frost the bars.
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter and lemon zest for 1 minute until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, lemon extract and vanilla extract, beating for several minutes until light and fluffy. If needed, add 1 tablespoon of milk or cream for desired consistency.
- Remove the bars from the pan by lifting the parchment paper up, then gently peeling the paper off the bars and setting them on a cutting board.
- Spread the buttercream onto the lemon bars and cut into squares, or cut into squares first, and pipe the buttercream onto the individual squares.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are lemonies also called lemon brownies instead of lemon blondies?
The name comes from the fact that lemonies are dense and chewy like a brownie, but since they don’t contain any cocoa powder, then they are technically a lemon blondie or lemon cookie bar.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Yes, you can double the recipe and bake it in a 9×13 pan.
What piping tip did you use to pipe the buttercream?
Will this recipe work with orange or lime instead of lemon?
Certainly! For a lime cookie bar, you can substitute lime zest and lime juice for the lemon in the recipe. For an orange cookie bar, limit the orange zest to just 1 teaspoon, since more than that can add a bitter flavor.
Can these be baked in advance and frozen?
You can bake these bars in advance and freeze them in an airtight container for 3-6 months.
Can I make a powdered sugar glaze instead of the lemon buttercream?
Of course! For a powdered sugar glaze, start with 1 cup of powdered sugar and add lemon juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you have your desired consistency for pouring over the lemon bars.
Are lemonies cakey or chewy?
They are chewy, moist, soft and a little dense, not cakey at all.
Should the batter be thick or thin?
The batter is fairly thin, and very easy to mix up with just a bowl and whisk.
How many lemons will I need?
This will depend on their size, and how much juice they contain. The recipe card indicates an estimate on what you’ll need.
How long do these stay fresh?
Stored in an airtight container, lemonies stay soft, moist and fresh for at least 3 days.
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Soft and Chewy High Altitude Frosted Lemonies (Lemon Brownies)
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
Ingredients
Lemonies
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest, from 1 large lemon (or 2 small)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice, from 1 large lemon (or 2 small)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Lemon Buttercream
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Lemonies
- Preheat the oven to 350, and line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest, then use your hands to rub the zest into the sugar to infuse the lemon flavor into the sugar. The sugar should look like damp sand.
- Whisk in the flour, salt and baking powder.
- Add the lemon juice, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract, and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake the lemon bars on the center oven rack for about 25 minutes, just until set and gently puffed. Set aside to cool completely before cutting into squares and frosting.
Buttercream
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter and lemon zest for 1 minute until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, lemon extract and vanilla extract, beating for several minutes until light and fluffy. If needed, add 1 tablespoon of milk or cream for desired consistency.
- Remove the bars from the pan by lifting the parchment paper up, then gently peeling the paper off the bars and setting them on a cutting board.
- Spread the buttercream onto the lemon bars and cut into squares, or cut into squares first, and pipe the buttercream onto the individual squares.
Notes
- These bars are very moist, and a little sticky, so for clean cuts, lightly spray a sharp knife with non-stick baking spray before cutting the bars.
- Store leftover lemonies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days.
So good. I took these to a dinner party and my kids were really ticked off. But I brought some home and they asked if I could please make them more often. I didn’t have fresh lemon (hard to find here in Bogota) and just used lemon juice, so I’m sure mine weren’t even as good at they could have been. But you know what I’ll be doing next time I find a lemon. Excellent recipe.
I’m considering making these in a mini muffin pan, think that’s would work? Any guesses on baking time?
I’m really not sure, but I’m guessing they’d end up more dry and crusty baked that way.
Ya, that’s my worry, too. I’m gonna do a test run and report back!
These are spot on! I upped the lemon zest and used a lemon buttercream that uses lemon juice instead of lemon extract for a little garnish. They were a huge hit, and the whole bake was so easy that I’ll be making them again for sure!
Dude ! I just made these earlier. A little more labor intensive than I usually go in for with a lemon dessert recipe but so worth it ! Very, very good. My husband actually scraped his plate clean haha. Thanks for the great recipe. It’s a keeper !
These are FABULOUS! For those closer to sea level, like I am, the only change I made was to double the baking powder, and they came out perfectly. Everyone loved them!
I’m so glad you loved them!
If you are low altitude, would you have to modify this recipe?
Julie, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for various altitudes: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/
Can these be frozen? Minis putting on the buttercream.
Yes, they can be frozen. Just seal in a freezer bag for several months.
Can you make these gluten free?
Do you have to pipe the buttercream or can you just spread it onto the brownies?
These are a 10/10 and so simple to make!!
Mine collapsed in the middle, didn’t rise much and looked nothing like the photo for height. What made them collapse?
What altitude are you at?