I remember vividly my first experience with lemon bars – it was love at first bite and set the stage for a life-long love affair with the beautifully tangy, sweet treat. These lemon bars don’t require any baking or cooking. The custard filling comes together almost instantly, need a minimum of ingredients and are an easy recipe to make.

The creaminess of the lemon bars comes from soaked cashews blended with coconut cream, lemon zest, lemon juice and honey. This combination yields the most delicious creamy lemony filling and the bars turn out tasting like lemon cheesecake, which for me is the most marvellous mouth-watering experience.

But be warned, these babies are one of those ‘bet you can’t eat just one’ treats! That buttery crust and tangy filling of a lemon bar can be so addicting…

With traditional lemon bar baked recipes the high amounts of  butter, sugar, eggs, flour,  and sugar laden condensed milk used for these citrus-infused treats does not play along nicely with a healthy eating plan.

Good thing that my favourite thing to do is take an old fashioned ‘not-so-healthy’ recipe and ‘healthify it’ – turning it into a healthier alternative. This no bake version is made up of a nutty, bottom layer topped with a rich, creamy, tangy layer of lemon-y goodness to die for.

If you are looking for the ultimate lemon bar recipe, then look no further. I promise you these are the best damn lemon bars you will ever taste.

Bold claim I know!

But these bars are truly a minimum fuss dessert. They hit at only 8 ingredients! And the entire process goes like this: grind up the crust in the food processor, press the crust in, blend filling until smooth, pour filling, freeze, cut, done! And for how easy they are, the flavour and richness are wild. So, SO good.

I have the bars all cut up in a container in the freezer, and I just set one out to thaw a bit while we are cleaning up after dinner. Perfect sweet relief at the end of a busy day. When life gives you lemons, you make lemon bars. It’s just what we do.

These delightful bars are super easy to make (three cheers for no-bake treats!) and crammed with the perfect balance of tart-sweet flavour. I am quite certain this will be my new go-to item for pot lucks or family gatherings. I hope you like them half as much as my husband does; he may or may not have eaten half a pan of them over the past 24 hours.

I love a good yummy something and it’s become a tradition that I make something for the weekend, almost every weekend. It’s just a nice way to reward yourself I think, and keep the sugar-intake at a minimum.

Because these lemon bars are crazy amazing you can feel good about eating one or two of them, even for breakfast and not feel one piece of guilt about it! 😉

Just trust me on this… this is a no-bake, raw recipe for a dessert so delicious I think you should just make a double batch and call it a day!

Zesty Lemon Burst Protein Bars

Craving something sweet, tangy, and refreshing? These no bake Zesty Lemon Burst Protein Bars are the ideal treat! With just a handful of ingredients and no baking required, they make for the perfect any time snack or dessert.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Healthy Clean Eating

Keyword clean eating dessert or snack, creamy lemon protein bars no bake, healthy lemon protein bars, healthy no bake lemon protein bars, lemon protein bars no bake, zesty lemon burst protein bars

Servings 12

Ingredients

Base Crust

• 1 1/2 cups almonds, cashews, walnuts or a mix
• 1 cup dates, soaked 30 minutes and drained
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Lemon Cream Filling

• 2 cups cashews, soaked 3+hours and drained
• 1 13.5 oz can coconut cream,full fat (solid part only) *see note below
• 1/4 cup protein or collagen peptides powder
• 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
• 2-3 lemons, juice and zest (depending on how lemon-y you like it)

Toppings Optional

• Lemon slices or zest
• Shredded coconut
• Chopped nuts

Instructions

• Note: Place the can of coconut cream in the fridge or freezer for at least 1-2 hours before making these bars to allow coconut cream to separate.

  Line an 8 x 8-inchbaking pan or dish with parchment paper on the bottom and sides leaving some overhanging to act as a handle to get the bars out easier for cutting.

Base Crust

• Place almonds into a food processer and process until broken down and crumbly. Add dates and coconut and continue to process until mixture is sticky and well combined.

  Be careful not to over process as its nice to have texture variance and different sized “bits” in your base crust.

  Press the base mixture into the bottom of your lined pan or dish evenly with a spatula or back of a spoon. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.  

Lemon Cream Filling

• Open chilled can and scoop out the cream that has separated and set hard on the top. Save the remaining coconut water to use in a smoothie, drink, or discard.

  Place all filling ingredients, cashews, hardened coconut cream, protein powder, honey, lemon juice and zest into the food processor and process until smooth and creamy.

  Depending on the power of your blender this might take a few minutes. Stop blending to scrape the sides and continue to blend until very smooth. Taste test add more honey or lemon if you think it needs it.

  Pour the filling over the chilled crust and spread evenly with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

  Top with your chosen toppings then place in freezer for 2–3 hours or until firm, then slice into 12 bars or more smaller squares.

  Store in the fridge for up to 1 week or freezer for up to 3 months.

Print Recipe

If you are looking for more delicious, healthy, protein-rich, no bake desserts and treats to help you reach your health, wellness and fitness goals, you will love my collection here: Blended Bites