Mixed Berry Lemon Pie Bars

If you like berries, lemon, and a shortbread crust, then you will really love these. These Mixed Berry Lemon Pie Bars are good. Like, really good. So good that it’s hard to stop at just one piece!

These Mixed Berry Lemon Pie Bars would be perfect for your 4th of July picnic. You can eat them with your hands even, no plates needed! They are also delicious topped with whipped cream and berries. I used whipped topping, but feel free to indulge in the real stuff!

I first found this recipe quite a few years ago and may have made these pie bars once or twice in the past, but then I moved on to other recipes. I’m so happy that I revisited this recipe again!

The recipe I found was from Week of Menus, but that recipe was adapted from Joy the Baker. Regardless of where the recipe came from I made a few tweaks from the one I found. Like I’ve mentioned before, I always cut down on the sugar in a recipe. So far I have not had any issues with this so I will keep on doing it!

I have made these Mixed Berry Lemon Pie Bars twice in the past two weeks. They freeze well if you don’t want to eat them all at once, or you can share with your friends! We did a combination of the two, but may have eaten more than we should have.

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The Crust

The original recipe used a mixer to make the crust, which you could use, but I prefer using my hands or a pastry cutter. It’s pretty easy doing it by hand and I feel like I have better control of the end result. That being said, you can use what you feel most comfortable with or with what ever you have!

The Filling

I love summer time because of all the fresh berries. We went strawberry picking the other day and those berries just seem to taste way better than the store bought stuff. Maybe it’s because it was hard work picking them, so that’s why they taste better?

The filling is pretty forgiving and you can use any kind of berries you have on hand. I used fresh strawberries and frozen blueberries. If you saw my Blueberry Galette recipe, you know that I still have blueberries in the freezer to use up. If you decide to use all frozen berries, be sure to read the note in the recipe.

What kind of fruit would you use for these pie bars? Let me know if you made these Mixed Berry Lemon Pie Bars and what kind of fruit you used!

Mixed Berry Lemon Pie Bars

Amy

These pie bars have sweetness from the fresh berries but the added tartness from the lemon really make these irresistible. You can use any kind of berries you have on hand!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Cooling time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 bars

Ingredients

  

Crust

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• zest from medium lemon
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
• pinch of salt

Filling

• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup sour cream, I use low fat
• juice from medium lemon, approximately 3 tbsp.
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
• 1 cup blueberries, see note

Instructions

 

Crust

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9" x 13" baking pan with parchment paper
• In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and lemon zest, this is to release the oils from the zest.
• Add the flour, cold butter, sugar, and salt to the sugar mixture. Use either a pastry cutter or your hands to incorporate the butter until it resembles crumbs.
• Save 3/4 cup of the crust mixture for the topping.
• Pour into a parchment lined 9×13" pan and press the crust mixture into the pan.
• Bake for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown. Cool the crust for 10 minutes before adding the filling.

Filling

• Whisk together the eggs, sugar, sour cream, lemon juice, and flour.
• Pour the berries into the cooled crust and spread out evenly. Pour the filling over the berries, making sure to get the filling into the corners. If needed use a spatula to distribute the filling evenly.
• Sprinkle the reserved crust on top.
• Bake the pie bars for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean they are the lightly golden brown on top.
• Cool for 1 1/2 hours before cutting the bars.
• Store any leftover pie bars in the fridge.

Notes

1. I use low fat sour cream as that is what I usually have on hand.  I know some people tell you to only use full fat stuff, but I never have an issue with it.  That being said, you can use what you have on hand.
2. I only had frozen blueberries and since it was only one cup I didn’t have any issues.  If your frozen fruit is really icy, I would recommend thawing it first.
3. I like to cool my bars and then put them in the fridge to set for a few hours before I cut them.  They cut well and I prefer to eat these bars cold.
4. If you don’t plan or want to eat the whole batch of bars, they freeze well.  Wrap them in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag.  To thaw, pull the pie bars out and place them in the fridge to thaw.

 

The nutrition facts below are based on the recipe above.  This is only an estimation and intended for informational purposes only.

Keyword berries, lemon, pie, summer