Let’s just imagine for a second that you can have waffles, that taste like a root beer float! Uh, I KNOW! Welcome to my brain that can mash up waffles and just about any other dessert to make them into a darn good treat that can toe that line between breakfast/brunch/dessert and still be vegan AND gluten-free. Can you say YASSSS?!
This post is sponsored by Zevia. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this space possible!
Can you tell that I looooove waffles? They are kind of my all-time favorite breakfast food and when given the choice between pancakes and waffles, I’m going to choose waffles 99% of the time. So many nooks and crannies for syrup and (in this case) (more…)
Vegan lemon bars are tart and sweet and use whole ingredients, plus no tofu and no cashews! Easy and with a vegan shortbread crust.
I’ll start by confessing. I might have eaten four squares of these vegan lemon bars in one day and I might have contemplated eating four more squares, that’s how good these are. I knew the crust would have a shortbread feel, but I started to get a little stuck on the filling. Normally, eggs would be used to thicken the filling and provide a base, but for these I needed something else.
After doing a little research, a lot of vegan lemon bar recipes called for silken tofu in the filling or cashews. While normally, I would be all for these two substitutes, I didn’t have tofu on hand and my cashew supply is running a little low (because I was making this and just inhaling it like nobody’s business). So, I set out to create a vegan lemon bar recipe without tofu.
For some reason, banana kept sticking in my brain as a vegan egg substitute and I just couldn’t get it out. I kept trying to rationalize it away, thinking that the banana flavor would shine through the lemon too much or it wouldn’t get that lemon bar gel set up right. Then, I realized that my baking gut was telling me that I should just try it, so why not? If things went wrong, I could just try something else if it was a big flop, right?
I know it sounds strange, but I feel like after several years of baking and tweaking recipes, my baking gut kicks in and can tell me how long to keep a cake in the oven or how much flour is really needed in a batch of cookie dough. So, I trusted my gut with these vegan lemon bars, and my gut didn’t lead me wrong!
I upped the amount of lemon juice and zest in the recipe and used a ripe banana to partially sweeten the filling. Adding in cornstarch and a bit more sugar allowed the filling to set up and get that classic lemon bar texture you know and love. So, here I give you a tofu-less, cashew-less vegan lemon bar recipe, with a healthy dusting of powdered sugar, of course.
For this recipe, I loved using this simple 8×8 pan that easily made the perfect amount of vegan lemon bars!
FAQs About These Vegan Lemon Bars
Do these taste like banana?
Yes and no. There is a slight banana flavor, but if you add enough lemon juice, they for SURE taste like lemon more than banana.
Can I double this recipe?
Yes! Double the crust and the filling to make sure you have enough. Use a 9×13 pan and make sure it’s lined with parchment paper!
Do these use cashews or tofu in the filling?
No! I wanted to avoid using ingredients that everyone might not have on hand. Bananas are the perfect substitute and make these slightly healthier without adding fat.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8×8 pan and set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, coconut oil, and powdered sugar until the dough comes together. Press into the bottom of the greased pan and bake for 7-9 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. You don’t want to over bake the crust, or it will become too hard after you add the filling. Set aside.
In a medium bowl with a handheld mixer, beat together the banana, lemon juice and zest, sugar, vanilla extract, cornstarch and flour until fairly smooth and combined.
Bake for 30 minutes, until filling it set. Allow to cool and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until cool.
Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Keywords: vegan lemon bars, lemon bars, how to make lemon bars
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Ready for the BEST vegan cheesecake with all the goodness of a dairy cheesecake, but made with cashews and NO tofu? It’s HERE and it’s so amazing that I had to share it on National Cheesecake Day! I promise that this is so easy (the filling is whipped up in the blender) and you will fool even the most loyal regular cheesecake fans with this grapefruit vegan cashew cheesecake.
This post is sponsored by Zevia. Thank you for supporting the brands that makes this space possible!
It’s absolutely NO secret that if you’re in the Midwest in the summertime, cherry is the name of the game! Vegan cherry crumble bars are the PERFECT combo of sweet, crunchy, easy, and packed full of cherry goodness. Kind of like vegan cherry pie, but in a much easier to make and eat crumble bar form!
This post is sponsored by One Degree Organics. Thanks for supporting the brands that make this space possible!
If there’s one thing that I will NEVER ever quit doing in the summer..it’s baking! It might be 95 degrees out and 80 degrees in our very old, but very cute house and I’m still going to be cranking up the oven to make pizza on Friday nights and bake cookies as an after dinner treat. Thankfully, (more…)
Let me tell you about one of the most fun, educational, and super unexpectedly amazing trips I’ve been on. Myself along with Kristen from Baker Bettie, Sally from Sally’s Baking Addiction, Annalise from Completely Delicious, Stephani from Cupcake Project, Adriana from Adriana’s Best Recipes, Jessica from A Kitchen Addiction, Lori from The Kitchen Whisperer, and Jamie from Love Bakes Good Cakes got to travel to Kansas to learn all about..wheat! Thanks to Red Star Yeast and Kansas Wheat, I was able to learn SO much about wheat and it really made me appreciate how much hard work goes into the food and flour we eat.
Hi, I'm Abby and I love all things sweet, with a vegan twist! If you have a craving for rich chocolate cake or love a flaky croissant as much as I do, you're in the right place!
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