3-Ingredient Lemon Bars
These Easy Lemon Crumble Bars only have 3 ingredients! This summertime dessert recipe only needs cake mix, butter and lemon pie filling!
EASY LEMON CRUMBLE BARS
You never know where a recipe will take you. I love the story of how this particular recipe plopped into my lap. While hanging out on facebook, answering some questions, I got a question from a reader named Toni (hi Toni!). She had a couple of cans of lemon pie filling in her pantry and she wanted some ideas on how to use them up. I suggested a recipe I had on the site here called Lemon Dream Cake. But I also decided to ask folks on facebook if they had any recipe suggestions. Well, someone did! Sandi G. (Hi Sandi!), shared a crazy-easy recipe to use up a can of lemon pie filling.
CAKE MIX RECIPE IDEAS
Well folks, that is what this recipe will do. It will surprise you in it’s simplicity and flavor. Don’t try to make it more complicated. It really is only just 3 ingredients. So thank you Toni for asking that question and thank you to Sandi for sharing her recipe with the rest of us. Here it is…don’t blink, you might miss it.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- yellow cake mix
- salted butter
- lemon pie filling
HOW TO MAKE EASY LEMON BARS:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, y’all know I’m a big fan of Baker’s Joy nonstick spray. It has flour in it. It is so awesome for baking. In a bowl, combine softened butter with dry cake mix.
Mix until crumbly. Now at this point, you might think to yourself, this stuff is so crumbly, how is it going to pack into the baking dish and make a crust? Well, I thought the same thing. But it all pushes together nicely and bakes up so well. Just make sure you are using real butter for this, I’m not so sure margarine would hold up in this recipe. But if anyone tries it, let me know. Before you go any further, you’ll need to set aside 1/2 cup of this crumbly mixture.
Take the rest of the crust mixture and press it into a 9×13 baking dish. Spread it out evenly and then just go around and pack it down in there with your hands. Spoon lemon pie filling onto crust. Do your best to spread it out as evenly as possible.
Then take the 1/2 cup of crust mixture that you set aside earlier and sprinkle all over lemon pie filling. This is going to give you a nice little crumble topping.
Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes. The crumble on top will just start to turn a very light golden brown. Then slice up and serve. This crust slices up very nicely. I like to eat it while it is still a little warm but it was really good nice and cold from being stored in the refrigerator. I bet that would be delicious during the hot summer months.
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3-Ingredient Lemon Bars (+Video)
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounce box yellow cake mix
- 1 stick salted butter (1/2 cup) softened to room temperature
- 22 ounce can lemon pie filling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a bowl, combine softened butter with dry cake mix. Mix until crumbly.
- Set aside 1/2 cup of this crumbly mixture for the topping.
- Take the rest of the crust mixture and press it into baking dish.
- Spread it out evenly and then just go around and pack it down in there with your hands.
- Spoon lemon pie filling evenly onto crust layer.
- Then take the 1/2 cup of crust mixture that you set aside earlier and sprinkle all over lemon pie filling.
- Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes. The crumble on top will just start to turn a very light golden brown.
- Allow to cool then slice up and serve.
Video
Notes
- This crust slices up very nicely. I like to eat it while it is still a little warm but it was really good nice and cold from being stored in the refrigerator.
- This should be covered and stored in the fridge. I found if I just covered it and left it out that the crust would soften up a bit so put in the refrigerator if not eating it all the same day it’s made.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: February 2013
Updated & Republished: June 2019
In order to crisp the crust, I baked it for 5 minutes, then spread the lemon pie filling over the hot crust and then topped with the remaining crumbs. Baked 25 minutes more to get some browning. Delicious!
Great tip Pat! Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and comment! So happy you enjoyed this one! ❤️