Pistachio-Lemon Bars

By Molly O’Neill

Published March 18, 1995

  • A stack of four baked bars with a cookie base and lemon top with chunks of pistachio inside. To the left are more bars in a single layer, and to the right are scattered pistachios.
    Craig Lee for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
5(4,210)
Comments
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These delightful and easy lemon bars have everything the traditional ones do – tang, sweetness and a buttery base – plus the added benefit of pistachios folded into the filling and the crust.

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Ingredients

Yield:16 servings

THE CRUST

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

  • ¼ cup confectioners' sugar

  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

  • ½ cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

  • ¼ cup shelled unsalted pistachios, roughly chopped

THE FILLING

  • 2 eggs

  • 1 cup sugar

  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

  • 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

  • ⅓ cup shelled unsalted pistachios

  • Confectioners' sugar, for garnish

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (16 servings)

23 grams carbs; 35 milligrams cholesterol; 174 calories; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 8 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 50 milligrams sodium; 3 grams protein; 15 grams sugar

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

  1. Step 1

    To make crust, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper (if using foil, lightly butter it). Place flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add butter and process until well combined. Stir in chopped pistachios. Firmly press mixture into the bottom of the lined pan using the flat bottom of a glass or measuring cup (if it sticks, place a piece of parchment paper on the dough before pressing). Bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, whisk together the filling ingredients. When the crust is baked, pour the filling into the pan and bake until set, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and cut into 2-inch squares.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
4,210 user ratings
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Comments

Fine Han

Pistachio is the best nutty match to lemon! This is now my favorite dessert of all time to make! A couple changes: 1) Used salted pistachios for the crust and filling. The saltiness adds extra complexity to the flavor 2) Omitted salt to prevent excessive saltiness in the crust- the pistachio was already salty 3) Added 5 minutes to baking time for the crust to get extra crisp 4) After adding the filling, lowered temp to 325 and baked 5 m extra. I will continue to make this recipe !

speacock23

The crust instructions are to "stir in the chopped pistachios", but I think the crust is much improved by processing the pistachios thoroughly with the flour mixture so that the richness of the nuts is distributed evenly through the dough. I also used the zest of an entire lemon, which was rather more than a teaspoon.

Anne-Marie

I'm a huge fan of lemon, and this recipe is probably my favorite ever! Super easy. Added 3 times the lemon though (a real fan of lemon, as I said), plus 1 tbsp of flour to compensate for the additional liquid. Came out perfect.

Casey P.

I like my lemon desserts to taste like LEMON so I doubled the lemon juice (1/2c)and used 1T zest. Added 1T flour to compensate for the extra liquid. Brought sugar down to 3/4c + 1T. I cannot imagine it as written–way too sweet. I’ve made this 3x with slight tweaks and it’s great. Next time will use salted, roasted pistachios.

SF Home Chef

I followed the suggestion for proportions for a 9x13 pan, and it came out great but just slightly less firm than I would have liked. Next time will follow the suggestion to lower the temp and increase the baking time. The recipe didn’t specify whether to chop the pistachios for the filling, so I stirred them in whole. I think chopped would have helped them incorporate into the filling more, so I’ll do that next time. They were gobbled up though. Great recipe.

Emily

I'm not a fan of these as written: The filling is bland, and too sweet. I had nice fragrant lemons and used a heavy teaspoon of zest, but it needs at least double, and a bit more juice as well for zing. The filling doesn't have a great texture... Too heavy and syrupy. The crust is bland compared to the filling, as well as kind of heavy. I love butter but this just feels oily. I love the concept, but I'd rather just add pistachios to a really good recipe than try to fix this one

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