Easy Bar Recipes: Tangy Lemonade Bars

Heather is happiest when taking a beautiful photo, creating something in her kitchen, or elbows-deep in a DIY project.

These lemonade bars are delicious and tangy. They make for great frozen treats during the summer. Here is the recipe to make these refreshing desserts.

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Cranberry Alternatives

If You Don't Like Cranberries...

If you don't like dried cranberries, Ocean Spray has some really yummy alternatives that you might try.

• Blueberry Craisins - Dried Cranberries infused with blueberry juice
• Cherry Craisins - Dried cranberries infused with cherry juice
• Pomegranate Craisins - Dried cranberries infused with pomegranate juice

The juice of the other fruits really tones down that harsh bite that cranberries can have. I absolutely swear by the cherry flavored cranberries. I use them to make my Cherry Craisin Oat Bars and they come out tasty every time!

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup cranberries, dried
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed (save rest for drink recipe below)
• 1 egg

Recipe for Lemon Squares

Baking with frozen lemonade makes this an easy lemon bar recipe... Believe me! If you're unfamiliar, baking with lemonade might be a foreign and altogether "weird" concept—but a delicious one! My mother has a wonderful Italian cookie recipe that calls for frozen orange juice and they are to die for. Having said that, take my word for it and bake your own as soon as you can. This recipe for lemon squares is one of the yummiest I have made and I can't think of a better tasting recipe for summer dessert bars. I love most lemon desserts, but this recipe yields a batch of dessert bars and a delicious drink to serve with them.

Dessert Bar Recipes

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease 13x9 inch baking pan.
2. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in lemonade concentrate and egg until blended. (mixture may appear curdled).
3. Combine dry ingredients and gradually add to butter mixture. Stir well until blended.
4. Fold in dried cranberries.
5. Spoon dough evenly into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
6. Enjoy!

How to Make Lemonade Bars

Lemon Squares With Cranberries

Shirley Temple Lemonade For Two

Recipe for Lemonade

Ingredients

• 2/3 can of frozen lemonade concentrate
• 3+ cans of cold water
• grenadine to taste
• maraschino cherries (garnish)
• lemon slices (garnish)

When shopping, you can find grenadine with the cocktail mixers and maraschino cherries are usually in the baking aisle.

What Do I Do With the Rest of the Lemonade?

This recipe calls for 1/3 of a can of frozen lemonade concentrate. Stick your frozen can in the frig for a couple hours before you plan to bake your bars. When you begin gathering your ingredients for the lemonade bars, take the can out and let it sit on the counter to finish thawing if necessary. Don't throw away the remaining lemonade mix.

Shopping List

Shirley Temple Lemonade

The instructions will have to be tweaked a bit to adjust the water: lemonade mix ratio—but it's salvageable and really compliments this dessert. My can of Minute Maid frozen concentrate called for 4 and 1/3 cans of cold water when preparing as lemonade. I used three, tasted, and added a little more. Flavor with grenadine to taste. Serve in cute mason jars over ice and throw in a few maraschino cherries and a lemon slice to make it pretty. The grenadine and cherries give this drink a great splash of color and truly makes it a Shirley Temple Lemonade. This tangy lemon bar and sweet lemonade pair together nicely for a refreshing treat.

Lemonade in Mason Jars

Heather Says

These recipes are perfect for summertime, but here in the Arizona desert, we could enjoy them almost all year long. If you keep a can of frozen lemonade and a bag of Craisins in your freezer during the summer months, you will always be only thirty short minutes away from serving and enjoying this delicious dessert duo.

More Summertime Desserts from the Kitchen of Heather Says

• No-Bake Double Berry Cake Squares
  An easy no-bake dessert recipe that only takes 15 minutes but looks like a million bucks. Made with blueberries and raspberries, this is a great way to turn a child or picky eater onto eating berries.
• Cooking with Jello: How to Make Cherry Lemon Lime Summertime Slushies
  Make homemade slushies using only three ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen right now. A delicious treat for summer that's fun, easy, and fast. Simple to customize and create your own unique flavor combinations!
• Blueberry Heaven | Blueberries and Cream Dessert
  A delicious dessert treat that's quick and easy. It only takes three delicious ingredients and less than twenty minutes. Yummy, pretty, and just in time for summer.

Comments

Heather (author) from Arizona on March 18, 2014:

@MsDora-- Thanks for stopping by. The Shirley Temple lemonade is definitely my favorite!

@Lizz's-- Thanks so much. I'm glad you enjoyed this recipe.

Dora Weithers from The Caribbean on October 29, 2012:

I'll try the drink for sure, but the bars also look yummy. Thanks for sharing these recipes. Voted Up and Useful!