Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

I will tell a trick I use on this, I cook the bottom crust first, let it cool then layer the rest as stated. It keeps the bottom from being doughy.

It was lovely! I read all the reviews, and decided to do something different with the bottom crust of crescent rolls. I placed Parchment paper (Dollar Tree carries it) sprayed it lightly, placed the crescents as instructed, THEN I beat a whole egg and "painted" the top of the bottom crust, added the filling, top crust i also painted with egg and topped with the sugar. Perfect! Glazed and shiny top, nice crisp bottom. Why? the Egg COOKS and makes a Moisture barrier between the filling and the bottom crust. I do this will All MY fruit filled pies, any pie actually, unless it is a refrigerator pie, of course!

This filling works well with Phyllo dough sheets top and bottom for those of you who don't like the cresent dough. Put about 6 sheets on bottom and the same on top. Makes a crispy crust. Another use is if you make pizzelle you can roll them around a cannoli mold when they come out of the iron, before they cool, and fill them with this to make trabochki. The filling is yummy.

Made half a recipe, used an 8x8 baking dish, and cut into 12 squares. I used reduced fat cream cheese and Splenda (cutting back on the amount in the recipe) with good results. This is a really quick and tasty dessert!

I made these today and they turned out delicious. The only change I did was I baked the bottom layer of dough first for 15 minutes, let it cool for 10 minutes then added the cream cheese filling and the top crust. I baked for 35 minutes and it was awesome. I will definitely make these again.

The filling was excellent, especially when eaten cold. My husband and I enjoyed the perfectly lemony taste. The use of crescent roll dough was awful though. Very messy to work with. Doesn't hold its crispness, gets almost "soggy". I'd love to experiment with the filling using a butter or sugar cookie dough or a baked pie crust base, something that will maintain some crispy/firmer base substance. Also I like to freeze my baked goods and know from previous (non-dessert) recipes that crescent rolls do not do well after freezing. Any suggestions from out there would be very welcome as well. The entire 3 stars were just for the filling.

First, calculate approx. 3-Tbsp. equals 1-lemon. This takes out the guess work on how much juice. Second, press 1 can of crescent roll dough in the bottom of prepared baking dish and bake for 15-minutes and then remove from oven and let cool; pour creaming spread over cooled bottom layer. Make sure to keep 2nd crescent roll dough in refrig. while bottom is baking. Last, roll out 2nd crescent roll on waxed paper with your sugar/lemon mix on top of waxed paper. Then stretch dough over sugar/lemon mix and then flip over dough onto cream cheese mix.

These were Terrific!! A lady @ school gave me some Mayer lemons, I wanted to show case such a great piece of fruit, these bars accomplished that goal n then some! I took the bars to school and my friends LOVED them! Thank You Pam These are an EXCELLENT dessert for any occasion ::)

I'm not going to lie, this never made it to the refrigerator. And it was still wonderful. After reading the reviews, I knew some thought it was too tart, and a few had problems with the bottom crust. I am not a fan of overpowering lemon flavor, so I only half-heartedly squoze... no juicer, no heavy lifting. I only zested 1 lemon. As for the crust, I followed the advice to cook it first. The BOTTOM crust is the only part of this recipe I would give 4/5 stars to. It is rather pesky. The top crust turns out perfect, absolutely divine. Filling was amazing (y'all are lucky that made it into the oven). I have thought a lot about how to fix the bottom crust. Maybe make it thinner and don't cook before hand? I kept thinking it would taste better with good old fashioned pie crust. I'm not a huge fan of filo dough.

I love these, and have been making them since I was very young, an older cousin taught me a version of this recipe. She separated the crescent rolls into triangles, and put a dollop of the filling into the center of each one, then rolled them up and baked as directed on the package. She used about 4 oz of cream cheese, lemon, lemon zest, and sugar to taste. I only use a table spoon of sugar, and juice from 1/2 a lemon so they are lightly sweet, and nice and lemony. It's an easy dessert for children to help make, I like to make them with my granddaughter, she loves them, and has fun making them.

I made this dessert for Thanksgiving and it was great. If you like a lemony dessert this is pretty easy and can be made ahead of time. My only suggestion is to watch how much lemon juice you're adding to the cream cheese. I put in too much, and the center was a little more runny than I had hoped. I may try this with pastry dough vs crescent rolls sometime, but the crescent rolls were perfectly fine.

I read the reviews and took some of their suggestions but added a few of my own. 1. I used juice from only 1 lemon but the zest of two. It had just the right amount of lemon flavor. My lemons were rather large so I only used one. 2. I added about a half tsp of vanilla to cream cheese mixture 3. I melted a whole stick of butter for the topping to keep from browning too quickly 4. I never had a problem with the bottom crust not being cooked. I wonder if, because the directions say "until the top crust is browned" if people removed it too early. 5. I never lined the bottom of the pan, I simply sprayed the bottom so it wouldn't stick. This may add to the reason why the bottom wasn't soggy or uncooked. They were wonderful ev

I made this dessert lastnight and I loved it. My husband likes and my co worker loves it as well. I love lemon desserts!!!! I also like how light this dessert is. Plan on using this recipe again and again.

This was delicious!

One word describes this recipe -- Excellent.

Instead of using crescent rolls I made dough (1 stick of butter melted and 1 cup of flour mix) Came out great. I also cooked the dough in the bottom of pan for about 10min to get crespy but its all up to you. when you make the dough for top roll it out with rolling pin on top of wax paper or ten foil it makes it easy to transfer.

Subbed sugar for 3.5 Tbsp Truvia. And reduced fat cream cheese and crescent roll dough. Next time I will bake the bottom layer of dough alone for a few mins to get a more sturdy crust. Otherwise delicious and was able to eliminate some extra fat and calories but not flavor.

I found this recipie on another site, and it says you must cook the bottom crust until just done. So following that guideline, they came out just like the picture and had an amazing lemon flavor! I used the recipie ready crescent rolls, that don't have the perforations. These are much easier to work with when baking! You'll find these perfect if you have to bring a dessert to an event!

My entire home smells like a bakery.... so buttery and sweet....yummm. I did not change anything except the sugar, I used splenda. I give this 5 stars.

Other than following the advice to precook the bottom crust, I followed this recipe exactly. Delicious! I think next time I may add a raspberry layer! Thanks for posting1

Wow! Now one of my favorite desserts ever. I cut the recipe in half and my whole family decided that the next time a 9x9 pan will make 9 servings instead of 12. It's just that good.

This was better today than it was yesterday, so a day makes a lot of difference for me. The lemon part is REALLY good, but last night I didn't hold much hope for the crescent roll part. The directions are easy to follow, and the cooking time is right on the mark. Thanks, PAM29922!

I would like to try this with puff pastry!

I made this recipe two times so far. The second time I didn't have lemons, so I used limes instead. It was equally as good. The sugar butter ended up being a green tint which was fine. Oh I forgot to mention that I took the suggestion of another reviewer and baked the first layer first. I didnt have butter either time, so I used melted ghee instead. Since I'm in Miami I will use key limes next time, and see how that taste. We love key limes down here so it should work out great.

I almost followed this recipe exactly, only difference is I doubled my lemon.I love lemon! cooking time was perfect . This came out with the right amount of color, excellent taste and great texture I will definitely be making this again.

I thought the croissant dough was much too much a savory item to be used for a sweet dessert. Next time we're going to use Phyllo and see what happens.

Anything w/Pillsbury crescent rolls tastes like the crescent rolls. It dominates all the other flavors. For me, there is a strange aftertaste in them. I will stick w/the traditional lemon bar recipe.

These bars just didn't do it for me. The filling was yummy but I didn't care for it paired with the taste of the crescent rolls (which I like).

I have made this twice in the last week. The first time I made half of a batch and used an 8x8 pan. The second time I used a 9x13 because it was so good. I did not change the recipe at all. I used the Crescent roll sheets not crescent rolls but the sheets are the same thing but with no perforations. I did not use foil and remove from pan to cut I used parchment paper and left them in the pan. We tried them room temp and refrigerated and I prefer the refrigerated a bit more. Easy, simple and quick to make this is now on my list to make for future events.

Made this for the first time today. Very easy to make. Tastes like you spent hours preparing ! Definitely a keeper !

Cream cheese mixture good with the lemon, tried the pre-bake on the bottom crust and I think it helped it from staying a raw doughy texture for the bottom. I'd switch in a shortbread or Graham cracker crust, just thought there was to little flavor to the bottom crust. Someone suggested phyllo, but I'm concerned about fat and calories, love the idea maybe a spread would work instead of butter.

Delicious!! I used the suggestion posted earlier to bake the bottom dough for a few minutes before adding the filling. Worked perfectly. I may have used a little too much lemon juice (2 large) I'll cut back next time.

This was very good, but cream cheese mixture needed more sugar for my taste. I used 1 cup of sugar instead of 1/2 cup. It was very good and stores well in the fridge. I made the once with crescent dough and the next with puff pastry dough. It was 100% better with the puff pastry dough.

I thought these were very good. I love the lemon flavor. I would recommend this recipe to my friends and family.

this is so easy to make and very reasonably priced in ingredients ... I made this today and its already half gone its going to be a family favorite for sure!!

I have to admit I am a baking snob. I never bake anything that uses what I call " cheat " ingredients, like a cake mix or prepared crust. This calls for crescent roll dough which is a no for me usually. I like to bake pure home made all the way. They looked so good though I thought I would give it a try. I pre-baked the bottom crust first and I think that is a must for this recipe. I also added one egg to the filling because I just can't imagine cream cheese and sugar baking right without it. The topping I made with sugar, grated lemon zest and some course sugar for more crunch. They turned out amazing. And the cheater prepared crescent roll dough was ok ! It didn't really taste like prepackaged stuff in this recipe. Thanks !

I made these and I accidentally bought puff pastry instead of phyllo dough. Pastry seems to work just fine though, but I probably could've cooked it just a little bit longer, but I wasn't sure if the cream cheese mixture would burn. In the end all turned out OK, and the bars are very very tangy/lemony. I think they're really good. I would make this again

RATED WITH MANY ADJUSTMENTS. This was fabulous with the additions/changes. I really dislike the taste and texture (and transfats) of canned biscuit dough so I did as others have suggested and used phyllo dough (6 sheets for the bottom and 6 sheets for the top, all layers brushed with melted butter). I also added 2 eggs, vanilla extract and 3/4 cups of sugar (instead of 1/2 cup of sugar) to the cream cheese mixture to give it more flavor and to make the filling a bit more firm. NOTE: If you add eggs, it makes the mixture thinner, so you will have to assemble the top crust of phyllo layers and butter on a piece of plastic wrap. Once you butter all 6 layers, only then should you place it on top of the cream cheese mixture to avoid a big mess.

Delightfully refreshing! Couldn't be easier to make. I made only a half recipe in an 8 x 8 pan. I won't make that mistake again.

I did as some people suggested and cooked the bottom first. That really helped so that it wasn't "soggy" on the bottom. I cut it and it began to ooze cream cheese and was concerned that it was ruined, but after placing it back in the pan and chilling it, it set right back up and was ready in about 2 hours.

Too much like a cheese danish for me rather than a dessert.

The crescent rolls did not add at all to the flavor. Cream cheese fillIng was not tasty.

I followed the advise of the other reviews and baked the bottom crust for 10 minutes at 350, and it was not soggy at all. However, the filling was extremely tart and needed more sugar than the recipe called for. I added an addition 3 tablespoons, but it definitely could have used more. Most importantly, the top crust was already burnt when I had had it in the oven less than 20 minutes. This could have easily been rectified, however, by waiting to put the sugar on until near the end of the cooking time. The top layer of crescent dough was also very messy and difficult to work with.

These are awesome. The only change I made was what the other's have said and baked the bottom first for approx 7 minutes. I followed the rest to the letter. Nice strong taste of lemon. Maybe next time though (depending on who is going to eat them) I might cut back slightly on the lemon juice by 1/3 only because some of my family members don't like such a strong lemony taste. Easy to make and good the next day too ... If they last.

This is very good. I did pre-bake the bottom crust 10 minutes before putting it together. The fresh lemon adds a brightness to this dessert and I would recommend it.

This is an excellent recipe! My family liked them alot. The house smelled of lemon and my wife just could not wait for them to be served. This was easy to make and easier to eat.

Crescent dough gets soggy, and does not enhance the flavor...

Ultimately, these came out delicious, but I made the following changes based on other reviewer's suggestions. I baked the bottom layer of dough for 10 minutes and cooled for about 10 - 15 minutes first. For the second crescent roll layer, I spread the dough onto a floured cutting board and pressed it out first, then carefully laid it on top. Try folding once or twice and quickly picking up before the dough sticks. Also, I only used 2 tablespoons of sugar mixed with the zest on top. It worked out perfectly and after they cooled they were DELICIOUS! Even my son, who doesn't usually like lemon desserts , loved them and ate four.

If you love lemon this is the one for you! Crispy crust and wonderful filling.

Well, this was an odd dessert. I think it needs to be in a slightly bigger than 9/13 pan. I made it exactly as written, and it poofed up clear to the top of the pan, and was very thick and gooey inside. Eventually, I got it cold enough so that it "set" a bit. Husband said it tasted good, but was so gloppy. I ended up needing to put a bit of powdered sugar glaze on top because they were very VERY tart. Don't think I'll be making them again, even though my pan may have been the problem. Just not worth the cream cheese, crescents, or the effort, sorry.

My family loves it! A new favorite. I’ve made it twice already and getting ready to make 2 more for a family gathering this weekend & another one for our house. We have had no problems with the bottom crust. I make it just as the recipe/video shows. It’s cool and refreshing.

Made in a 8X8 pan and only used half the ingredients.....you MUST bake and cool bottom crust first then proceed with recipe...perfect light dessert....hubby loved these!!

I made this yesterday... So easy and if you like lemon desserts (which I do) you can't go wrong with this one!

I did not make any changes and YES I will make it again. To make a smaller batch you can just use half of each one of the ingredients. Friends and relatives really loved it and begged me for the recipe. I am not sure that I am going to share that with them.

Made as directions state. Found it to be just fine. Nothing stood out as terrific or horrible. It was just ok.

Mine didn't turn out at all the way it appears in the picture. My cream cheese mixture came up through the dough and became a mess from that point on. The taste was really good and I'm willing to admit that I may have done something wrong. I would try this again using phyllo dough instead and decide if the recipe is a keeper.

Too tart.

I really wanted to love these bars but they tasted like lemon danish on crescent rolls. I had very tart lemons and tasted the filling before I put them together. They were far too lemony so added 2-3T sugar. Lemons can fool you. (I make lemon curd frequently for friends and family so you KNOW I love lemons) Like the suggestion of fillo dough. Might even try puff pastry. This has real possibility but the crescent rolls...OK for family but not to impress guests. Not dessert worthy...more like a breakfast pastry.

I would have liked an exact measurement of the amount of lemon juice and lemon zest. My tree produces very large lemons so my cheese filling was watery and it had too much zest making it more tart. Increase the sugar if you're using large lemons!!!

the top two layers were sooo good. Bottom layer was too think and tasted like bread Next time, I may spread butter and lemon sugar over bottom layer and bake in oven for a few minutes before putting it together Still very yummy!

They tasted too processed to be called "homemade" though. They were a bit too greasy. I would omit the butter.

I will make it again but I will use Fillo Dough for the top layer next time. Definitely a keeper!!

Good and easy.

This is so yummy! At a family bday this past summer, I made the bars just like it says. I also made it with graham cracker crust AND topping. I used the common recipe for the crust. For the topping, I made the crust BUT ADDED lemon zest, lemon juice & more sugar to the crust. Sprinkled on top. The amount of added lemon zest, lemon juice & sugar depends on what you like. I made sure I used enough added sugar that after baking it left the graham cracker topping crunchy. Hope yall enjoy!

Made it for the first time. Not sure I would make it again. If I did, I would try baking the bottom crust first as some other reviewers suggested. This dessert needs to be eaten the same day. It does not hold up very well after one day.

I have to agree with another cook about the crescent roll taste. For some reason I thought that it would be like flaky pastry but it really was not. It tasted better fresh as it was crispier than the next day.

there is nothing good about any of it.

I have not made these yet. I was wondering if I could freeze the bars? Thanks! Looks SOO yumilious!

I would make again.

I typically love lemon desserts but this one was way too tart for even me! If I make again, may add more sugar to the filling or less lemon.

Omg!! Fantastic recipe! Turned out great, I think I found a new favorite!!!!

For a crispier, more satisfying crust: use 6 sheets phylo dough on the bottom and the same on top. The filling is yummy.

Absolutely delicious. Very happy with the results!

Filling was amazing. Too much dough for this pastery

Made these just as written. The cheese filling was delicious, but I found the crescent rolls a little doughy. I like to make according to the recipe the first time and modify after so I will try the philo sheets next time as suggested.

I used one large lemon from my SIL's lemon tree in California. The flavor came out bright and crisp. I used about 3 tablespoons of Lemon juice and all of the zest. I did have to keep it in the oven for another 10 minutes for the top to brown up.

I prebaked the bottom crust and it came out great.

WARNING! This dessert is incredibly delicious - BUT be careful in the final step of lifting it back into the 9x13 pan after cutting into squares. My foil split when I picked it up (apparently my knife perforated the foil in several places) and the pieces slid all over - many of the tops sliding completely off the bottoms. It was a DISASTER! I would have taken a pic, but I was too panicked. After lifting each one carefully with a spatula and putting the puzzle pieces back together, I tasted one of the irreparable ones and completely forgave myself. I will be making this many more times. One other hint - I put the top crescent dough on a pastry cloth and rolled it to a 9x13 shape (dusted with a little powdered sugar) before placing it over the cream cheese filling - worked perfectly.

Personally, I loved this recipe. I didn't get a lot of zest out of my lemons since they were older, and I did accidentally put too much lemon juice in them, but the husband and I like tart and it was delicious. I did bake the bottom for about ten minutes, then coat with a beaten egg, I used half the regular amount of cream cheese, put the top crust on, spread with egg and butter and then sprinkled the rest of the zest and powdered sugar. Baked it for 35 min. So, so good! Also, I guess it's worth mentioning, I used monk fruit instead of sugar.

I did what Rebecca suggested and cooked the bottom crust first and it turned out great. I took it to work and everyone loved it.

Easy and very good!!

I made it exactly like it said, it was a hit and not a drop left at the end of the party. It was not soggy at the bottom at all, Will make it again

This is a perfect recipe! Comes out just as described and is delicious!

I myself didn't really care for these, the way the flavors came together wasn't what I was expecting. They definitely turn out looking very delicious but I really didn't like the mouth full of cream cheese between two crescent rolls. It was difficult to eat.

I have made this many times & I love it! Don't skip the part about lining the pan with aluminum foil. I have never had an issue with the crust. It turns out perfect. It's such a simple danish type breakfast food.

easy to make and easy to eat made it with more zest because I like the lemony tast

I made these lemon cream cheese bars true to the recipe provided. Frankly, I thought they were way too lemony! I would recommend the juice of one lemon instead of two. Also, I wasn’t thrilled with the crust. The texture just doesn’t work well overall.

Excellent dessert and very pretty. Also very good substituting lime juice and phyllo for the lemon and crescent roll dough.

I haven't made it yet but we are not crazy over lemon . Could we substitute something else like vanilla instead.

I used puff pastry and cooked the bottom layer for a bit before putting on filling. It could be a little sweeter if you were eating by itself. I served with vanilla ice-cream and the tartness was perfect.

This recipe turned out very well! Easy and tasty. I followed it to the letter, using no substitutes and exact amounts that chef called for. Next time I'll try it with the substitutions the other reviewers suggested.

I made them today very easy recipe to follow and absolutely delicious

Made it for a BBQ I went to and it was all gone within 30 mins. They said they really enjoyed this dessert. I make a similar one without the lemon so I was happy to find out how to do this with lemon. Mmmmm good :-)

I followed the recipe as written except for the very last part about topping with butter/lemon zest. Instead I just got done making lemon curd and instead basted some on top of the lemon bar's. Gives these a little more lemon zing. And I too also baked the bottom cresent roll layer 1st before baking the rest. Nice and crispy.

I misread the instructions and used up all my lemon zest in the filling. I actually used 1 more whole lemon because I wanted to make sure it tasted like lemon over the cream cheese since cream cheese can have a stronger taste. It worked. I also added 1 tbsp more of sugar to the topping as well as another whole lemon zested. It was a hit at Easter Brunch and looked just like the photo. **Oh and I made it the night before. I was a little nervous the pastry would get soggy in the fridge but I didn't cover it and it was just fine.

Time to start baking! Sounds delicious!

This recipe was delicious. Really tangy with just the right amount of sweet. They keep well in the refrigerator.

Super easy and delish!! Only warning is about not using to much lemon juice and zest. I think my lemons were too big and the result was a little on the tart side. I also took the suggestion of precooking the bottom layer of dough and loved the brilliant suggestion of lining the pan with foil sprayed with oil--awesome!

I substituted Splenda for the sugar and only made half in an 8x8 pan. I baked for 35 instead of 30 min and the bottom crust didn’t need to be pre-baked. It was perfect!!