LEMON SUGAR COOKIE BARS #dessert #bars

LEMON SUGAR COOKIE BARS #dessert #bars

These easy lemon bars have a sweet sugar cookie crust topped with a tangy lemon cheesecake filling and then topped with more sugar cookie crumble. The perfect balance of sweet and tangy.

Last Saturday was my 31st birthday, and it was also national lemon bar day!! except that it wasn’t, and I just made that up. The lemon bar part, it was in fact my birthday.

I spend all kinds of time conversing with people (I almost used the word conversating there only to find out that it isn’t actually a word, and that means I have probably been embarrassing myself all the time, but it’s cool). Anyway, I chat with people about what exactly they’d like to see on the blog.
Some people want healthy things, some people want all of the chocolate. A couple of weeks ago it was all about my son and his big day and his favorite ORANGe BROWNIES.

But, for my birthday I’m just a small town girl living in a lemon world. So I “conversated” with myself and came up with these lemon sugar cookie bars…..

Happy birthday to me! No, I didn’t actually talk to myself.

 PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE DELIGHT

Ingredients :

Sugar cookie crust:

• 1 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Cup butter at room temperature
• 2 Cups all purpose flour

Lemon cheesecake:

• 8 Ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/4 Cup lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons lemon zest divided
• 1/2 Cup sugar

Instructions :

1. For the bars:
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Line an 8x8 or 9x9 inch square baking dish with foil and spray liberally with non stick cooking spray.
4. In bowl of stand mixer using paddle attachment, or large bowl with hand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed for 2 minutes.
5. Turn mixer to low and slowly add the flour (1/2 cup at a time) and mix just until dough comes together.
6. Press half of the dough into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
7. Cool completely before filling.
8. Store remaining sugar cookie dough in a bowl in the refrigerator until ready to use.
9. For the Filling:
10. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or medium bowl with a hand mixer beat together the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp. of the lemon zest until smooth and creamy.
11. Pour filling over cooled crust.
12. Top filling with the remaining sugar cookie dough by simply crumbling it evenly over the top.
13. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until cookie crumble is light golden in color.
14. Top with remaining lemon zest as desired.

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