Lemon Bars (raw + vegan)

There is hardly a more fitting dessert for spring than lemon bars.

Add in that it’s raw, vegan and healthy, and you’ve got yourself a winner!

Both tart and tasty, these melt-in-your-mouth bars can be prepared in less than ten minutes with ingredients you likely already have in your home. They are the perfect pick-me-up for an active day or healthy after-dinner sweet. Or maybe both. After-breakfast treat? Maybe that, too.

Dessert for breakfast? I’m all in.

These little babies have no added sugar – they are naturally sweetened with just plain dates. I love that they are bursting with lemony flavor without the sickly sweetness of traditional lemon bars. Classic lemon bars are just loaded with pure refined sugar that will cause wild mood swings and crazy sugar cravings.

Basically, I’ve learned that sugar cravings are not all that cute.

Now, you lemon-bar-traditionalists might be concerned with how this recipe was tweaked, claiming that they won’t taste like original lemon bars anymore. Sure, they have their own twist, yet they still have everything that makes a lemon bar completely irresistible.

In fact, I think they are even better…

Lemon Bars recipe

recipe adapted from The Rawtarian 

1 cup raw almonds

1 1/2 cups Medjool dates, pits removed

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons organic lemon zest (the peel from 1 lemon)

2 tablespoons lemon juice (ideally from the lemon above)

1 cup shredded unsweetened dried coconut

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

Place almonds in food processor and process into a fine powder. Add the dates, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest to food processor and process again until well mixed. Once everything seems pretty well processed, set food processor lemon bar mixture aside. In a large mixing bowl, place your dried coconut and salt if using. Mix with a spoon to distribute sea salt. Now add your food processor mixture into the mixing bowl. Mix everything together with your hands until it’s nicely combined and resembling lemon bar dough.

Transfer your raw lemon bar dough into your final dish (I like to use a glass brownie dish or pie plate). Now press the mixture down into the dish with your hands so that the mixture sticks together nicely. Ideally, you should refrigerate your raw lemon bars for about an hour so that they really stick together and are easy to cut.

Enjoy your raw lemon bars. Their lemony coconut flavor goes really well with fresh strawberries. They should be stored in the refrigerator.

Do you love lemon bars? Leave me a message! I would love to hear from you!