These raspberry lemon bars have a creamy, honey-sweetened filling and a buttery 100% whole grain crust! Can also be made with all-purpose flour.
I can’t get over it. These raspberry lemon bars are ridiculously delicious!
Nobody will have a clue that they’re made a little healthier – and loads healthier than some other raspberry lemonade bars that call for Jell-o.
I don’t think I can ever go back to boring old lemon bars. These are so creamy and that crust… it’s not a normal crust. It’s a buttery cookie crust.
I’m not normally into crusts, because they’re usually pretty bland, but this one I could eat plain. All that sugar does wonders. :)
I’d been trying to come up with my own honey sweetened lemon bars recipe since January when I was experiencing some winter denial.
They were all catastrophic disasters. It was a sad situation and much honey was sacrificed.
So when I saw this recipe from Food Doodles the other day, I pounced. If you prefer a lemon version, she also has a honey sweetened lemon bar recipe!
I could never use fresh raspberries in something baked like this. They’re just too precious. And expensive! So if you can find them frozen at a decent price, grab some and make these raspberry bars!
And I realize it’s really hot in some areas but these bars are really worth it. Just do your baking in the morning, let them chill until lunch, and then you can feast on these when it starts to warm up. That’s a brilliant plan, yes? :)
This recipe also halves wonderfully. Use a 9″x5″ loaf pan and bake the crust for 15 minutes and then the filling for 20 minutes. Having these bars just sitting in the fridge, calling my name, was a bit like torture so it’s a good thing I only made half.
Raspberry Lemon Bars (100% Whole Grain and Honey Sweetened)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 16 bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup raw sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (141 grams) whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (31 grams) white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (160 grams) honey
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1/2 cup (120 milliliters) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- scant 1 cup (240 milliliters) raspberry juice and pulp (from approximately 2-2 1/2 cups frozen berries)
Cookie crust:
Raspberry lemon filling:
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Line an 8"×8" pan with parchment paper or spray the pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla, lemon zest, salt and 1/2 cup of the flour. Mix well and then add in the rest of the flour.
- Continue beating until well combined (it's okay if it's crumbly).
- Press onto the bottom of the pan and bake for 15 - 17 minutes until it just starts to brown around the edges.
- Remove the pan from the oven and let cool while preparing the raspberry lemon filling.
- Thaw raspberries and then puree them in a food processor or immersion blender.
- Press the raspberries through a food mill or a small sieve. Try to remove most of the seeds.
- Measure out 1 cup of puree (slightly less than 1 cup is also okay). Set this aside.
- Place the eggs and flour in a large bowl and whisk until no lumps remain. Be sure to get out all the lumps now because it will be difficult later!
- If your honey is solid, gently warm it in the microwave so that it's pourable. Add the honey to the egg and flour mixture and stir.
- Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and whisk until well combined.
- Stir in the raspberry puree and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Pour the raspberry mixture over the crust and bake for 28-30 minutes in the 350 degree oven. The filling should be mostly set, but the middle might jiggle a little. It will continue to set while cooling.
- Cool the bars completely and then place in the refrigerator to chill for another 2 hours before cutting.
- Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Adapted from Whole Grain Honey Sweetened Raspberry Lemonade Bars – Food Doodles
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62 comments on “Raspberry Lemon Bars (100% whole grain)” — Add one!
Okie dokie. Here is my autoimmune food sensitivity recipe for these bars:
For the cookie crust:
– 1/2 cup of mashed avocado
– 1/4 cup of raw orange blossom honey
– 1 tsp pure orange extract
– 1 tbsp of fresh lemon zest
– 1/8 tsp sea salt
– 1 cup + 2 tbsp of Trader Joe’s Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. Now, I’ve chosen Trader Joe’s because I’ve had so much success with it in the past. It gives gluten-free desserts a moist, fluffy, and yummy texture, and contains the most agreeable ingredients of any that I’ve found. Trader Joe’s is not sponsoring me, but I am endorsing their flour. :)
———————————————
For the raspberry-lemon filling:
– 1/4 cup of ground chia seeds blended with 3/4 cup of water
– 1/4 cup of Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
– 1/2 cup of honey (preferably orange blossom because it’s sweet and contains antibacterial properties)
– 2 tbsp of fresh lemon zest
– 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
– 1 cup of raspberry juice & pulp from approx 2 – 2.5 cups of frozen berries
———————————————
DIRECTIONS:
1. Begin thawing frozen raspberries.
2. Preheat the oven to 325*F (160*C)
3. Line an 8”x8” pan with parchment paper or spray the pan with cooking spray
Cookie Crust:
1. Mash 1/2 cup of avocado
2. In medium bowl, mix mashed avocado with 1/4 cup of raw orange blossom honey
3. Add the 1tsp of orange extract, 1 tbsp of lemon zest, 1/8 tsp of salt, & 1/2 cup of the flour.
4. Mix well, using a fork and then use your [clean] hands to massage it until it begins to feel like squishy playdough.
5. Add in the rest of the flour. (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp)
6. Continue stirring and massaging until well combined. It’s okay if it’s crumbly.
7. Press onto the bottom of the pan and bake for 20-22 minutes until it starts to brown around the edges.
8. While crust is cooking, begin preparing the filling (if you are doing everything manually, by hand, such as the puree & zesting, you’ll need an early start).
9. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool completely before adding the filling.
10. Increase oven temperature to 350*F (175*C).
Filling:
1. Puree thawed raspberries in a food processor or immersion blender. I used a vitamix with the tamping attachment on the lowest possible setting and it only took about 15 seconds.
2. Press raspberry puree through small sieve (or a food mill). Try to avoid getting the seeds into the puree. We want the smoothest finish we can create. *If you don’t mind the seeds, put the leftover/remaining fiber+seeds into a glass tupperware to store in your fridge to add as a topping to this dessert or to spread on your pancakes, or anything you like! Raspberry seeds are high in ellagic acid which is super beneficial for fighting cancer and eliminating tumors.
3. Measure out 1 scant cup of puree.
4. Grind 1/4 cup of chia seeds in small grinder.
5. Blend the ground chia seeds with 3/4 cup of water.
6. Add the chia+water mixture to a large bowl along with 1/4 cup of Trader Joe’s Gluten Free flour.
7. Whisk until no lumps remain! A fork works just fine, and if you’re in the mood to use your hands again, that can also help get everything mixed together.
8. Add 1/2 cup of honey and stir however you like until totally blended.
9. Make 2 tbsp of lemon zest & 1/2 cup of lemon juice! If you have small appliances that can help with this, then, great! But if you’re doing it by hand, I’d recommend getting started on this early.
10. Add the zest + juice to the rest of our mix until well combined.
11. Stir in the raspberry puree and mix until thoroughly combined.
12. Pour everything over the crust (after you’re certain it’s no longer warm) and bake for 28-30 minutes in the 350*F oven.
13. After this, it should be mostly set, but the middle might jiggle a little, but that’s okay! It will continue to set while cooling.
14. Cool the squares completely and then place in the refrigerator to chill for another 2 hours before cutting.
15. Add leftover raspberry fiber+seeds as a topping if desired.
16. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
NOTE: These would taste amazing with a layer of chocolate on the bottom or sandwiched in the middle. If you are a baker and can come up with a recipe that could make this happen, I say, do it! Otherwise, you could just as easily add chocolate syrup afterwards. :)
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing your healthier version. I can’t wait to try this! The crust sounds really interesting. I’ve never made an avocado-based crust before! And how awesome that you were able to make these egg-free. I’m sure your post will make the egg-free readers very happy! Did they come out looking like the ones in the pictures or do they look a little different? I’m just curious. Thanks again for taking all that time to share your version with us! It looks wonderful. And that’s great that it worked out the first time. :) I normally take very many attempts to get the recipe right when changing so many things.
They look a little different. For one, because I used an 8″x11″ pan, so they’re slightly thinner, but the color is a little different, too. Is there a way I can attach a picture? Or send you one? I took a fancy one yesterday. :)
I’d love to see it! There’s no way to upload it here but if you have a chance, you could send it to me at texanerinbaking@gmail.com. Thanks! :)
I love these bars so much, I’ve made them a few times now. I have some guests coming soon and some of them are Celiacs. Do you have a GF crust recommendation that I could use with this filling?
And I forgot to mention that I have used arrowroot for the filling and it worked.
I’m so happy that you enjoyed them! I haven’t tried this raspberry filling with this crust but I think this lemon bars crust would work. Another commenter tried making this raspberry bar recipe with almond flour in the filling for a GF version and it didn’t work out well so I’ll let her know about the arrowroot for the filling. Thanks so much! Did you use 1/4 cup? Thanks a ton for your feedback. :)
Yes I just used 1/4 cup and it worked great! Thanks for your suggestion, I will try that out!
Great! Thanks so much and good luck with the other crust. :)
Kristen, I don’t know if it has posted, yet, but if you’ll return to the comments, I have added a gluten-free recipe that was adjusted from this one. :)
This recipe is to a tee!! Thank you so much! My tarts ended up absolutely scrumptious on my first try!
So happy that it came out well for you! Thanks for the feedback. :)
These look so mouth-watering! I can just taste them looking at the pictures….
There’s just one thing that bothers me, which is discarding the seeds. I had a hunch they were probably super-healthy, just as so many other fruit seeds are (e.g. grape seeds), so I did a quick search and found this on Livestrong:
“Raspberry seeds contain antioxidant-like phytonutrients including ellagitannins and anthocyanins that may help fight cancer, viruses, inflammation and a number of other conditions.”
Maybe it would be okay to leave these in and just have a slight “crunchiness”? ;)
Thanks, Chris. :) It’d definitely be okay to leave the seeds in! I think I tried making these with the seeds the first time but the crunchiness was just too much for me. But maybe that’s just because I don’t really like little crunchy things in my food. ;) I hope you’ll enjoy the bars if you decide to try them!
I’m not a baker, by any stretch, but I followed this recipe with replacements due to a health issue. Avocado for butter, chia for egg, orange extract for vanilla extract, gluten-free flour for regular, etc. I have been searching *everywhere* online to try and figure out what to do with the leftover fiber/seeds of the raspberries. They’re way too nutritious to toss. So I decided to try adding it as a topping to one of the bars. AND IT WAS AMAZING!! Also – have you considered putting a layer of dark chocolate in between the cookie crumble & raspberry filling (or even as a bottom layer)? I think it would compliment the flavor nicely. :)
Hi there! Thanks a bunch for your comments. :) I haven’t tried putting a layer of chocolate in these bars. It sounds interesting, though! I’m so happy that your allergy-friendly recipe came out well. And I love your idea of using the raspberry seeds!
I have a bunch of fresh raspberries. Do you have any idea how to substitute them for the frozen?
Use the same amount of fresh raspberries. Hope you’ll like the bars! :)
I am kind of ashamed to admit I have never made lemon bars before. They are on my to do list, but haven’t made it to the top yet. Now I think they have officially been replaced with these – love the raspberry idea!
You so have to make these instead! So much better than a normal lemon bar. I really can’t get these out of my head.
These are beyond gorgeous, Erin! What a vibrant color! And healthy too? I have no excuse not to make them asap :)
Indeed! So how’d you like them? ;)