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Artistic photo of many lemon bars on a white background, dusted with powdered sugar

Perfect Vegan Lemon Bars (Gluten Free option)

Bright, refreshing, and perfectly textured, these lemon bars are bursting with lemon flavor and happiness.  Matched with a buttery lemon zest shortbread crust, you will never need another lemon bar recipe again!
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Rest Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Course Dessert, Lunch Box, Snack, tea party
Servings 16 bars

Ingredients
  

Shortbread Crust Ingredients

  • 1 cup gluten free flour can sub all-purpose if desired. This links to my favorite store bought gluten free flour blend that works best with all of my recipes, or see "Ingredients Needed" section for further info.
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar *if you want a sugar free option, this links to my favorite sweetener, you can substitute it 1:1 in place of regular granulated sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • ½ cup vegan butter cold, straight from the fridge

Lemon Filling Ingredients

  • ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 5 tbsp cornstarch
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp lemon zest
  • pinch turmeric

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper (if you want to use a 9x13 pan, double all ingredients, keep all else the same)  
  • In a large bowl, mix together all the crust ingredients.  Use cold butter here and combine with the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter, or forks, or your fingers.  The finished mixture will resemble big, soft crumbs.  Press firmly into an even layer in the pan, and bake for 20 minutes on its own.
  • After the crust has baked (or when it’s nearly ready – this part moves quickly!), combine all the filling ingredients into a small pot or saucepan, and whisk together until combined.  Heat on medium until the mixture thickens up, keep stirring with a spoon throughout this process, this usually takes about 5 minutes.  It will very suddenly go from a milky white mixture to a thick, yellow gel. 
  • Once you have the yellow filling gel, add it over your pre-baked crust, and use a spatula to smooth it and get it as even as possible across the pan.  Bake the whole mixture another 15 minutes.
  • Let the pan come completely to room temperature before moving into the fridge.  Ideally these firm up overnight in the fridge, but if you are baking them for same day eating, try to give them close to 2 hours to come together before removing from the pan and cutting.
  • Once ready to eat, optionally sift some powdered sugar over the top, then cut into 9 or 16 equal squares.
  • Eat and enjoy!

Notes

NUTRITION INFO

Total amount: 16 bars
Serving size: 1 bar
Per serving amounts:
  • Calories - 185
  • Grams of fat - 7.8
  • Grams of carbs - 25.7
  • Grams of protein - 2.1
Keyword gluten free, lemon, lemon bars, lemon zest, shortbread, shortbread crust, vegan
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