Can you freeze lemon bars? Yes and the good news is citrus bars freeze really well. 🍋
If you’re trying to figure out if a dessert can be frozen, think about its components.
In the case of lemon bars, those usually entail a shortbread or sugar cookie crust or a graham cracker crust. All of those things can be frozen on their own as can lemon filling.
So you can also freeze them as one dessert.
If you're in need of lemon bar recipes, you're in the right place.
Try Lemon Bars with Graham Cracker Crust or Lemon Bar Recipe (Make in One Bowl and perhaps a Lemon Drop Martini (3-Ingredient Recipe with Limoncello) to go with the bars? Or Copycat Panera Lemon Drop Cookies.
Mark your calendars, National Lemon Bar Day is October 15. 🍋
If you’ve ever cruised the frozen dessert aisle at the grocery store, you might remember seeing boxes of frozen dessert like pie or bars.
In fact, Trader Joe’s sells its lemon bars right from the freezer case.
Have you ever eaten a frozen lemon bar? I would rank that experience up near nirvana. Frozen lemon squares are so, so good!
How to Freeze Lemon Bars
Key to freezing citrus bars is to slice them into individual servings first.
Slicing bars that are frozen solid can be difficult.
And this way, if you have individual frozen lemon bars, you can pull out just what you want to serve.
Thaw bars either in the refrigerator overnight or on the kitchen counter at room temperature for an hour or two.
The key to successfully freezing lemon bars is to double wrap them so they don’t suffer freezer burn.
Wrapping Lemon Bars Successfully
- Let lemon bars come to room temperature.
- Slice into individual bars.
- Wrap each slice in either wax paper or freezer paper or aluminum foil.
- Then put each wrapped slice in a freezer proof container such as a freezer bag, a resealable plastic bag or a container that can be frozen.
- Freeze the individually wrapped lemon bars first so they are nice and firm and hold their shape before put them in the second, outer layer of freezer protection.
You can also freeze lemon bars in the baking pan that you’ve used, just be sure to wrap the pan twice, perhaps covering the pan in aluminum foil then sliding that foil-wrapped pan into a large freezer bag.
These containers have great reviews.
If you are freezing lemon bars, leave off the powdered sugar, if your recipe calls for it.
The powdered sugar will just get absorbed into the lemon filling while it’s in the freezer.
Dust thawed lemon bars with powdered sugar once ready to serve.
Lemon bars will last well in the freezer, if properly wrapped, for up to three months. Mark the package with the date you're freezing the bars because you likely won't remember when you put them in the freezer.
Remove citrus bars from the freezer and let come to room temperature on a countertop. Or, let lemon bars thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Are you new to baking? Check out What Should a Beginner Bake?Baking Cookbooks for Beginners or improve your kitchen prowess with Cookie Baking Tools (Better, Faster Baking).
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