Lemon cheesecake bars with a graham cracker crust are the perfect summertime potluck recipe or lemon dessert for your lunch box treat.
If you're a fan of my small cheesecake made in a loaf pan (and so many of you are, yay!), then your next cheesecake obsession starts right here.
I actually halved that recipe to make an even smaller cheesecake for two. These lemon cheesecake bars with graham cracker crust have a nice layer of perfect cheesecake (that bakes up with zero cracks, I promise!) and a tangy little topping of microwave lemon curd.
Since I'm in the business of scaling things down, you're probably not surprised to see an even smaller version of an already small cheesecake. Gosh, I hope not!
I wanted a little lemon cheesecake square that you could easily bring to a potluck or tuck into a lunchbox. These fit perfectly into a one of the squares in a bento box, which is both good news and bad news for me. I'd rather sneak an extra lemon cheesecake bar than an actual sandwiches sometimes. You know me.
I bake this recipe in a standard 9" bread loaf pan to get 8 small bites of dessert. I use it a lot for small batch desserts, and I'm thinking that key lime pie is our next venture! Would you join me on that one?
You can absolutely use Nilla wafers for the crust instead of graham crackers here, about 1 ½ cups of them. They require the same amount of butter to hold together as the grahams do. They're slightly sweeter, so I would leave out the sugar, but that's just me.
One other recipe note: this recipe calls for just an egg yolk. I sorted all of my recipes that use egg whites. I also sorted by recipes that use egg yolks, too if you want to save that for future use!
If you make these lemon cheesecake bars for a summer party, I would love to see! Tag me on instagram.
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Lemon cheesecake bars with lemon curd.Lemon Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
For the cheesecake:
For the lemon curd:
Instructions
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 643Total Fat: 41gSaturated Fat: 22gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 251mgSodium: 414mgCarbohydrates: 62gFiber: 1gSugar: 49gProtein: 10g 
Maryette says
Yes! Key Lime Pie Please!!
JoAnn C. says
Key Lime Pie? Yes, please.
Christina Lane says
Coming right up :)
Julia says
I adore lemon bars AND cheesecake, so this is a double-win! I need to make it immediately. And I echo the support for a mini key lime pie <3
Christina Lane says
yay! Coming right up :)
Jessica says
I made these last night using the suggestion for a vanilla wafer crust, as I didn't have any graham crackers. I also had an open package of 6 oz. of cream cheese, so I used that, and adjusted the rest of the ingredients also. I topped with Smucker's Blueberry Lemon Jam because I couldn't even bring myself to make microwave lemon curd (I know, I'm pathetic). This was delicious! I will make it over and over again! Thank you!
Susanna says
This looks so much like summer laready! I love lemmon cheese cake! this is definitely a winner. Very simmilr to the one I usually make eggless (I change the egg mixture by neutral jelly instead) but the result is still divine,,, and so so refreshing, makes a perfect afternoon snack!
Alana Williams says
As an empty nester I am always looking for recipes with smaller portions. The lemon cheesecake bars fill that and more. They were delicious. I have to try the pasta salad next! Thanks for your hard work.
Sabrina says
this is a work of art, food art, and a great thing to serve at next dinner party, etc, it just looks so good, thank you!
Cindy Rodriguez says
These are gorgeous, simple and look absolutely delicious! Love the lemony-ness of them - perfect for summer. Can't wait to try these out!
Zahabia says
Made them yesterday they were yummy
Sandra D says
Just made these (using lime instead) and they took a LOT longer than 20 minutes before the toothpick came out dry. More like an hour. Both the loaf pan and curd are in the fridge. I'm sure they'll be delish tomorrow :)