Two days ago I put on my best bitch face and walked into a dealership and bought a new car! It’s the most boring, practical car ever but I don’t care because it doesn’t cost me a million dollars every month, it’s inexpensive on gas and gets me from point A to B. But in my dream world, I’d drive one of dhese…
Right now I’m in my very practical car headed to Palm Springs. So many last day of school vibes! While it’s just going to be for the weekend, I’m super excited to just chill for a few days by the pool. Amelia loves PS more than any of us because it means she gets to swim and jump in the pool and swim some more. I also bought a pizza floaty for her to lounge on. Hoping for a good Instagram moment with that one.
If you’re looking for a lil’ dessert to make for Memorial Day, make these! If you were a fan of Country Time (remember that shit?) then these are for you. I LOVED Country Time Pink Lemonade as a kid.
My mom homemade so many things but homegirl was not about to squeeze a whole bag lemons. She had too much laundry to do. So instead I made the pink lemonade.
These pink lemonade bars were inspired by that delicious powder. If you’ve seen pink lemons around at grocery stores and the market, then use them! They’re less acidic than normal lemons. Like, I might not use them in a salad or on fish because they don’t have the same flavor BUT they’re perfect for dessert. This recipe doesn’t lean on pink lemons though, so feel free to use regular ol’ ones too.
The pink lemonade crust is maybe my favorite. It’s buttery, slightly snappy and SO good. The filling is gooey and delicious and slightly tart.
Happy Memorial Day! See you back here on Tuesday. I have a fun post going live that day.
xo
Adrianna
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Pink Lemonade Filling:
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice divided
- 7 large eggs at room temperature
- 3 cups white granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- To make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with a sheet of parchment. Line it so there’s extra parchment on each side; this makes it super easy to remove the pie bars. Set it aside.
- To a the bowl with a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar; cream together until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the flour and salt and beat once more just until combined. In the bowl, combine the dough, making a ball. Add the ball to the prepared baking dish and press the dough onto the bottom, creating an even layer that’s about 1/2-inch thick.
- Transfer to the oven to bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until it’s a very light brown. Allow to cool while you make the filling.
- To make the filling: To a food processor or blender, add the fresh raspberries and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Blend until mostly smooth. Pour the raspberry puree through a strainer, into a measuring cup, discarding the pulp; pour in the remaining 3/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. You should end up with about 1 1/4 to 1 1/3 cup raspberry/lemon juice.
- To the large bowl, pour in the raspberry/lemon juice, large eggs, sugar, lemon zest and flour. Whisk until smooth. Pour the filling into the cooled crust and carefully transfer to the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, checking it at the 15 minute mark, rotating if you need to. Let cool to room temperature. Cut into any shape you like: squares, triangles, sticks and dust liberally with powdered sugar.
Pink Lemonade Bars, are the best I made and have eating. Yes I couldn’t stop eating them. I’m getting ready to make an other batch. They are better than the ones made with strawberries.
Hi Adrianna!
You have such beautiful recipes…… they are really inspiring!
I love your blog!
Shanai
I love lemon and raspberry so this looks just perfect! Do you think I’d be able to freezer these bars after they’re baked? Thanks!
I wouldn’t recommend that because custard can get a little wonky when frozen. :/
These pink lemonade bars look delicious and the color is just perfect.
These look so wonderful! I must try to make this soon. Thank you for sharing!
Not sure what happened….crust mixture was too sticky, had to add extra flour. Had to cook it for at least 10 minutes longer. Filling was delicious, however even after cooking it for 40 minutes, once cooled, it was runny in the middle. Was unable to bring it to our cookout today. 🙁
Hi Lisa, I’m so sorry about this recipe giving you trouble. I looked back at my notes and I did in fact make a mistake; it should’ve been 1 cup of butter. I’M SO SORRY. However, when I looked back at the filling, it shouldn’t have give you very much trouble. Did you use frozen berries by chance?
What a beautiful dessert! I remember Country Time Lemonade! That was “summer” at our house! Ha!
Priuses rule! Honestly, as Los Angelenos, these cars seriously save you some bucks at the gas station.
These look gorgeous! And I’ve never seen pink lemons before!
where do you get pink lemons?!?! i want. but i guess raspberries will suffice too (love that you added flavor and color at the same time, rather than just throwing in some food coloring).
I got them at Trader Joe’s (if you can believe that!). I did test this with regular lemons and they were amazing! Also pink lemons aren’t this pink either. It was tested once without that many raspberries and it wasn’t nearly pink enough. The raspberries add nice flavor, too! 🙂
These look lovely, so is this like curd sat on top? The colour is amazing.
Have a fantastic holiday!
Yes, very similar to a curd but more stiff and not as much work. You can luckily just mix all the filling ingredients, pour in and bake!