These healthy lemon bars will be your go-to lemon bar recipe from now on!
With an easy-to-make homemade crust with crushed pine nuts, these lemon bars are not only delicious, but they also fit perfectly into your Weight Watchers SmartPoints plan!
And even if you don’t follow WW you’re going to love this recipe!
Healthy Lemon Dessert
I’ve always LOVED lemon bars!
Why? Because the tangy, lip-puckering, lemon topping with the crisp-crusty bottom makes for the perfect dessert bar.
What makes these lemon bars extra special is the fact that they’re only 5 WW SmartPoints per serving {Green Plan}!
For some reason, in my entire lifetime, I’ve never made them myself, until now.
Because I aim to be as health-conscious as possible, I wanted to make a Weight Watchers friendly version of one of my favorite desserts.
And if you want to know why I always choose WW recipes, here’s a recent article in Business Insider about how effective the Weight Watcher’s Diet is.
Half the WW SmartPoints of Conventional Lemon Bars
This recipe is HALF the WW SmartPoints of the conventional lemon bars recipe, without losing ANY of the taste!
I promise!
They’re SO tasty that they’ve inspired me to make more WW dessert recipes.
I found this Weight Watchers: Best Ever Desserts cookbook (Amazon) featuring 150 cakes, pies, cookies, bars, breads, & tarts!
Healthy Lemon Bar Recipe With No Artificial Sweeteners
Another beauty of this lightened up version is that there are no artificial sweeteners.
So, no weird aftertaste like some other lightened up dessert recipes.
Furthermore, they’re just as delicious as any other lemon bars I’ve ever had.
How To Make Healthy Lemon Bars
Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour
- Powdered Sugar
- Pine Nuts
- Salt
- Butter
- Canola Oil
- Cooking Spray
- Granulated White Sugar
- Fresh Lemon Rind
- Lemon Juice
- Eggs
- Egg Whites
- Powdered Sugar
What You’ll Need
In addition to the ingredients, you will need a food processor (Amazon).
Do yourself a big favor and get one!
Clearly, it will more than make up for the cost if you like to bake like I do.
Plus, it’ll give you more excuses to whip up some new recipes along with some old favorites!
You’ll also need:
- Measuring cups & measuring spoons (Amazon)
- 8 inch square baking dish (Amazon)
- Mixing Bowl (Amazon)
- Whisk (Amazon)
- Wire Cooling Rack (Amazon)
Instructions
Step 1: Preheat Oven & Combine Flour, Powdered Sugar, Pine Nuts, & Salt Into Food Processor
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Then add your flour, powdered sugar, pine nuts, & salt to your food processor and pulse 2 times to combine well.
Step 2: Add Butter & Canola Oil To Food Processor
Add butter and canola oil and pulse in the food processor 3 to 5 times until the mixture is coarse in texture.
Step 3: Press Mixture Into Bottom of Square Baking Dish
Press your pine nut crust mixture into the bottom of your 8 inch baking dish (sprayed with cooking spray).
Then bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the crust is lightly brown.
After that, remove dish from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 4: Whisk Remaining Ingredients In Mixing Bowl
Combine the remaining ingredients (besides the 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar) into your mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.
Step 5: Pour Mixture Over Crust & Bake
Pour mixture over crust and bake in 325 degree Fahrenheit oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until set.
Then remove dish from the oven and place on wire cooling rack until it is completely cooled.
Step 6: Chill for 2 Hours & Sprinkle with Powdered Sugar
Once your lemon bars are completely cool, cover the baking dish and place into the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.
Then remove from the refrigerator and sprinkle evenly with powdered sugar.
In addition, Groupon is a great place to go for deals on food processors.
As you can see from my pictures, they turned out great.
Lemon Bars with Pine Nut Crust
The ingredient that surprised me the most was the pine nuts.
I’ve never seen a lemon bars recipe with crushed up pine nuts in the crust.
But they really turned out great!
The crust is crisp-flaky, just the way I like it!
And the topping is just as tangy, lemony, lip-puckering and lightly sugary as the BEST lemon bars out there.
Tips and Tricks
- Do yourself a favor and get a Citrus Zester (Amazon) to grate your lemon rind. I didn’t have a zester, so I attempted to do it with my old fashioned box grater, which worked but was cumbersome.
- Presentation is everything when you make something as good as these lemon bars. This 3 Tier Collapsible Dessert Presentation Tray (Amazon) is the perfect display for these delicious creations!
- Pine nuts can sometimes be hard to find, so if you don’t feel like going on a wild goose chase like I did, they sell them on Amazon. These Farm Fresh Nuts Pine Nuts (Amazon) have gotten great reviews.
- Pine nuts are used in a ton of recipes, like:
- Cookies
- Pastas
- Salads
- Veggies
- Even sandwiches, like my Pesto, Toasted Pine Nut, Mozzarella Panini Recipe.
Finally, if you’re looking for more healthy, delectable recipes, I highly recommend The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavor.
The author, Gina Homolka, is a fellow blogger, just like me!
Her recipes are amazing!
She includes all of the nutrition information on each of her recipes, so you can calculate WW SmartPoints or any other diet you may be on.
Here are some other fun finger-food desserts on our blog:
No Bake Cereal Chocolate Cookies
In the meantime, I’ll be in my kitchen partaking in another little no-guilt square of heaven!
Healthy Lemon Bars Recipe
Healthy Lemon Bars Recipe with Pine Nut Crust: 5 WW SmartPoints
Ingredients
- ¾ cup All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ cup Powdered Sugar
- 3 tbsp Pine Nuts, toasted & coarsely chopped
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Butter, unsalted & chilled, cut into small pieces
- 2 tbsp Canola Oil
- Cooking Spray
- ¾ cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Lemon Rind, grated
- ½ cup Lemon Juice (fresh or bottled), approximately 4 lemons
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 large Egg White
- 2 tbsp Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Place flour, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, pine nuts, and salt in a food processor; pulse 2 times to combine. Add butter and canola oil. Pulse 3 to 5 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Place mixture into the bottom of an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray; press into bottom of pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
- Combine granulated sugar and next 5 ingredients (through egg white) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Pour mixture over crust. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until set. Remove from oven, and cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Sprinkle bars evenly with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar.
Notes
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I don’t have pine nuts, is there a substitute or may I just leave them out?
Hi Cindy, You should definitely substitute a different ingredient or your crust won’t have the desired consistency. Good pine nut substitutions would be cashews, almonds, pecans or pistachios. Thanks! Pam
Wish I could give this more than 5 stars! I made it for an early Mother’s Day get together, and I’m not sure there will be any left by tomorrow…..easy to make, absolutely delicious. I did go and buy pine nuts rather than use a substitute. Thank you!
Thank you so much Cindy! I’m so glad you loved it as much as I do!
I just added up the point values for all the ingredients and divided that by the number of servings (16) and found it to be 5 points per bar on the green program. I hope someone will double check me.
Hi Eve, Thanks so much for your comment. You are correct. I double checked and it comes out to 5 SmartPoints per serving. I have adjusted it in the post. Thank you! Pam
This sounds wonderful. I was looking for a good lemon bar recipe and this one fills the bill. Low sugar and lots of lemon…making it tonight!
We love them! Hope you love them too!
Sounds yummy! I will have to try these. Thanks for sharing!
Your recipe doesn’t list the 2 tablespoons of oil…found the original recipe
Thank you Shelley! I will add that in!