Lemon Poppy Seed Bars
Updated July 27, 2025
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus at least 1½ hours’ cooling time
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 45 minutes, plus at least 1½ hours’ cooling time
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1cup/228 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
- ⅔cup/130 grams granulated sugar
- ¾teaspoon fine sea salt
- Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
- 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract (or ¼ teaspoon almond extract)
- 2¼cups/270 grams all-purpose flour
- 2tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1cup/240 grams lemon curd, homemade or store-bought
Nutritional analysis per serving (16 servings)
243 calories; 15 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 26 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 116 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square metal baking pan and line the bottom sides with parchment, leaving 1 inch of overhang all around.
- Step 2
Add sugar and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add lemon zest and mix with the paddle attachment until the sugar is moist and fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Step 3
Add the butter and beat on medium speed until smooth, 1 to 3 minutes. Beat in the extract.
- Step 4
Turn off the mixer, add flour, then mix on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add poppy seeds and continue to mix on low until incorporated but still crumbly, about 1 minute (do not overmix the dough).
- Step 5
Transfer 1 cup of the crumbled dough to a small bowl. Transfer the remaining dough to the prepared pan and flatten into an even layer using the flat bottom of a glass or your hands. Spread the curd in an even layer over the surface of the crust and sprinkle with reserved dough, crumbling into pieces as you sprinkle.
- Step 6
Bake, rotating after 20 minutes, until the crumb topping is golden brown and the curd bubbles at the edges, 40 to 48 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely in the pan, at least 1½ hours.
- Step 7
Use the parchment to lift the bars out of the pan onto a cutting board. Trim parchment off the edges and cut into 16 squares.
Private Notes
Comments
I baked these yesterday because I had a jar of lemon curd that I needed to use up. It was just shy of a cup. So as was recommended as a possible sub for lemon curd in the video, I added a little drizzle of homemade raspberry jam to the curd. Lemon and raspberry are a great pairing. From there I followed the recipe pretty close, but had to leave out the poppyseeds because I didn’t have any on hand. The lemon raspberry bars turned out really good. I’m sure the bars would also be great with the poppyseeds, but you still have a very good treat without them. My only recommendation is to use good butter since this is a butter heavy recipe—you will taste the butter, so use one you would want to eat on toast. I like Kerrygold.
Bonne Maman make a great lemon curd!
I never leave reviews but for whatever reason, lemons to be used up and poppy seeds, and not a baker, this recipe sang to me. So I made it today. Wonderful, relatively easy but have the lemon curd cooled before you put it together. I found a microwave lemon curd recipe on the internet which was easy and very good. Never the baker but this will be a keeper and made frequently. Delish!
This felt like a lot of work for bars that were delicious, but super crumbly. Perhaps that is due to my substitution of Gf flour. I will return to my classic lemon bar recipe.
Would gluten free flour work in this recipe?
If you make your own curd and use it before it’s fully thickened in the refrigerator for 3 hours, the cookie part won’t be crunchy and it’ll take forever to bake. I somehow ended up with too much topping, too. Maybe my mistake (?) I think if you do everything right, it’s a lovely recipe.