Grain Free Lemon Bars

Grain Free Lemon Bars Recipe

photo by recipe author

Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Crust:

1 1/2 cups almond flour*
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup expeller pressed coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

3 pastured eggs
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice (2 small lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (1 lemon)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined. A mixer should work as well.

Press the dough into a greased 8×8 baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly golden Remove from heat and let cool quite a bit to set up.

Filling:

Heat the oven back to 350 and make sure it’s ready before you start mixing the ingredients. The baking powder will be affected if you wait to bake these.

Place all ingredients EXCEPT the baking powder in a food processor and combine. A mixer will work, but lemon zest will not be ground down and unnoticeable in bars. Add in the baking powder and pulse one last time.

Pour the filling over the crust and bake for about 25 minutes until crust is set. It shouldn’t get brown, it will feel stiff to touch.

Sift powdered sugar over the top. This is optional. Store in the refrigerator until serving.

Not a lemon person? Substitute the lemon juice and zest for lime.

*You can grind your own almond flour by placing whole almonds in a blender/food processor and blending until a meal consistency is reached.

Recipe submitted by Kate, Highlands Ranch, CO

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Published on April 8, 2013

(5 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

11 Comments

Victoria S June 14, 2016 at 7:18 pm - Reply

I tried the crust with 1 cup coconut flour and kept everything else the same. Crust was a little dry, but I felt like I should have doubled the filling cause you could hardly taste or have any texture of the lemony-ness with just 3 eggs…it was more like a frosting on the not really sweet crust instead of a true lemon bar. Still yummy, I just need more filling/moisture. Thanks!

Victoria January 8, 2014 at 4:01 pm - Reply

These taste good, but they did not turn out at all like they look in the picture for me. After I baked the crust, I let it cool almost completely. When I poured the filling over it, it immediately broke apart into the filling, even though I had packed it down well before baking. It’s more of a mixed bar instead of a strong crust layer and a strong lemon filling layer. Seems the lemon filling might need a thickener?

Cassandra S September 10, 2013 at 6:55 pm - Reply
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Can I use regular eggs in this?
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Marilyn April 12, 2013 at 2:52 pm - Reply

Pecan flour can be substituted in most recipes for almond flour, for those sensitive.

Even if coconut sugar were sustainable, which it isn’t, it, like cane sugar, is mostly sucrose, so there’s no real point in using it.

And actually, for some of us, sugar IS evil — if you don’t have the ability to break down sucrose. I don’t enjoy giving up raw sugar, or occasionally, powdered sugar, but I like giving up the ability to go where I want and not have to be timing the distance the the next restroom a great deal less. For some of us, honey is far more digestible, and less likely to cause problems.

Kendra April 10, 2013 at 9:13 pm - Reply

Is there a substitute for the almond flour?  My daughter is sensitive to almond…

Sarah:) April 10, 2013 at 5:09 pm - Reply

Coconut sugar isn’t sustainable…. 

http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/coconut_palm_sugar.htm

Renee M April 10, 2013 at 12:46 pm - Reply

How about using coconut palm sugar instead? Lower glycemic and great taste!

Sarah:) April 10, 2013 at 12:36 pm - Reply

Honey might work, but it’ll probably change the texture. Honestly though just get good, high quality, unbleached organic cane sugar (not sugar beet sugar!) and use that. There’s also whole sugar out there if you want a true brown sugar. They aren’t evil and terrible, you just have to eat sugars in moderation.

linda d April 9, 2013 at 5:47 pm - Reply

is there an alternative to the processed sugar? honey/maple syrup?

Sarah:) April 8, 2013 at 6:58 pm - Reply

I’d recommend organic cane sugar rather than something highly processed.

Esther April 8, 2013 at 4:41 pm - Reply

Hi, I was wondering what particular type of granulated sweetener you used, for measurement comparisons. I’m going to use Truvia and 1 cup of granulated table sugar is about 1/3 cup of Truvia.

If I know what type of sweetener you used, I could easily search on the Internet for the conversion, so I wanted to ask you to find out. :)

Thanks~ can’t wait to try out this recipe (my dad LOVES lemon desserts).

Grain Free Lemon Bars