Little round lemon bars are decorated with big candy eyes and orange gumdrop feet and beaks. These cute Little Lemon Bar Chicks may make you pucker but are super sweet Easter desserts.
Springtime is when baby chicks pop out of their shells and I have fun creating chick-shaped desserts. Chicks are so cute and are really easy to create out of just about anything sweet or, in this case, tart.
To make these Little Lemon Bar Chicks I baked my lemon bars in round cookie cutters. Once they chilled in the refrigerator for a few hours, I simply pushed them out of the cutters and decorated them.
I added jumbo candy eyes and cut a beak and feet out of orange slices (gumdrops).
Recipe
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice from 5 or 6 lemons
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 9 orange slices (gumdrops)
- 24 jumbo candy eyes
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Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or spray a non-stick pan with baking spray.
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Spray the inside of twelve 2 ½-inch round cookie cutters with baking spray and arrange on prepared pan.
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Pour flour, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, salt, and lemon zest into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 5 times to combine.
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Add cubes of cold butter and pulse until the dough starts to come together. Scoop out dough and roll into a ball.
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Scoop out 1 ½ tablespoons of dough and press into 1 round cookie cutter. Repeat filling all 12 cutters with a thin layer of dough.
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Refrigerate for 15 minutes. While chilling, preheat oven to 350°F.
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Bake chilled crusts for 14-16 minutes until the edges of the crust turn golden brown.
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While crusts are baking, whisk together granulated sugar, flour, cream of tartar, and salt in a medium saucepan.
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In a bowl, whisk whole eggs and egg yolks. Pour into saucepan and stir until all sugar is incorporated. Pour lemon juice and lemon zest over top and stir to combine.
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Set saucepan over medium-low heat, and stir constantly for 6-8 minutes until mixture thickens. The lemon curd should register 165-170°F.
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Remove crusts from oven once baked and immediately pour lemon curd over top.
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Place back in oven and bake for 7-9 minutes until tops look set but still jiggle.
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Remove and allow to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
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Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
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To remove lemon bars from cookie cutters, push up from below on the crust until bar pops out of cutter.
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To decorate, set orange slices on a cutting board so that long curved edges sit on the board. Cut orange slices lengthwise so you end up with 2 identical half moon shaped pieces from each candy.
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Set pieces sticky side down. Cut each piece in half.
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To create chick feet, cut 2 small triangles out along curved edge of candy. Repeat creating a total of 24 feet.
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Cut remaining orange slice pieces into fat triangular beaks.
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Place 2 orange slice feet along 1 edge of a round lemon bar with the point touching the edge.
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Near opposite edge, place 2 candy eyes and add 1 orange slice beak just below.
Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I'd recommend adding the candy eyes after you remove the lemon bars from the refrigerator before serving.
Related Recipes
You can even bake a large lemon bar in an 8-inch round pan then decorate it using homemade modeling chocolate to look like a cute chick.
If you love lemon be sure to check out my recipe for Lemon Fudge too.
If you want to make some more festive Easter desserts, check out over 75 recipes.
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The Partiologist says
Oh so cute, I love lemon! I wish it was me who took that bite!
Beth says
If you love lemon you should definitely give this lemon bar recipe a try. It's so good!