Lemon Raspberry Bars (2024)

These lemon raspberry bars are the perfect twist on traditional lemon bars. They have a delicious shortbread crust and a layer of tangy lemon raspberry custard.

The idea for these lemon raspberry bars came after making classic lemon bars last week. I got curious about what other variations I could make, and since I love raspberry lemonade, adding raspberries seemed like the obvious first choice. They have a thick, buttery shortbread base layer. Then the lemon raspberry layer is tangy, sweet and infused with raspberry puree.

The flavor is definitely lemon infused with raspberry, as opposed to raspberry with a hint of lemon. The raspberries give these bars a beautiful dark pink color, and the flavor reminds me of sunshine.

The Perfect Lemon Raspberry Bars

For the Shortbread Base

You’ll start by making the shortbread base. It’s a delicious buttery shortbread, and most importantly, it’s not too sweet. Because the lemon raspberry layer is sweet on its own, I didn’t want the base to be a sugar overload. You’ll press the dough into the bottom of your pan, and then it will bake on its own for about 20 minutes, or until it looks set on the top and lightly golden around the edges. This step is important – otherwise, it will be raw and doughy.

Pro Tip: To avoid the raspberry layer seeping around the edges of the base and making it soggy, you can create a little ledge around the edges of the base. When pressing the dough into the bottom of the pan before baking, press it slightly up the sides of the pan too (about ⅓ inch or a little under a cm is enough). Then after the base is done baking, gently prick the top with a fork. This helps to “stick” the lemon raspberry layer to the base.

For the Tangy Lemon Raspberry Filling

The filling is very similar to the filling in my lemon bar recipe, but with a few changes:

• reducing the lemon juice slightly
• adding raspberry puree
• slightly reducing the sugar, since raspberries will add sweetness too

You’ll first puree the raspberries in a blender or food processor. Then optionally, pour and push the puree through a metal sieve to remove the seeds. Removing the seeds isn’t 100% necessary, but I prefer the texture without seeds. Then you’ll boil down the puree to remove excess liquid. This step is absolutely necessary, otherwise, there will be too much liquid in the filling and it won’t set properly. You can see the raspberry puree before and after it’s been boiled down in the photo below.

After you’ve boiled down the raspberry puree until it’s thick, making the filling is very simple. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, corn starch, thickened raspberry puree and lemon juice. Then it gets poured over the baked shortbread crust, and pop it back in the oven to bake.

Pro Tip:Make the raspberry puree first. Puree the berries, remove the seeds and boil it down. Then make the shortbread crust as it cools down. As the shortbread base is baking, you’ll whisk together the ingredients for the filling.

After the bars are baked, you’ll need to cool them fully then chill in the fridge. This is important so that the bars set properly. Therefore, I typically make them either the morning I plan to serve or even the night before. They keep really well and taste delicious cold from the fridge.

You can serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, or with a dollop of whipped cream. Either is delicious.

Love lemon and berry desserts? Here’s some other favorites to try:

• Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes
• Classic Lemon Bars
• Lemon Blueberry Muffins
• Lemon Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting