Condensed Milk Lemon Slices
I love lemon as you can see here in these lemon raspberry muffins, lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies, and lemon buttermilk cake. If I had to choose between lemon and chocolate there would be no question. Lemon always wins.
Basically an easier version of classic lemon bars, these condensed milk lemon slices come together in minutes, which is one of the reasons I love them. A creamy, tart lemon filling offsets a buttery, sweet graham cracker crust.
These lemony treats are best eaten the day they’re made as the filling may weep the second day. That being said, they do freeze well. You just have to be careful not to squish the soft lemon top.
Ingredients
Step-By-Step Instructions
Preheat the oven and line a square baking dish with parchment paper. Leave some paper hanging over the sides of the pan to use as handles to lift the baked slices out.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt, and melted butter until well combined.
Dump the mixture into the prepared square pan and press the crumbs into an even layer with your fingertips.
Place the graham crust in the preheated oven and bake. Remove the crust from the oven, set it aside on a wire cooling rack, and reduce the oven temperature.
In a larger bowl, whisk the condensed milk, lemon juice, egg yolks, and lemon zest together until smooth.
Pour the lemon filling into the pan on top of the pre-baked graham crust.
Place the pan back in the oven and bake the lemon slices until the filling is slightly jiggly but not wet. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
When the lemon slices have cooled completely, use the parchment paper handles on the sides of the pan to gently wiggle and coax them from the bottom of the pan. It may take a few tries for the graham crust to release.
Once released, use the parchment paper handles to gently lift the lemon slices to a cutting board. Using a long sharp knife, carefully cut the whole thing into four large squares, then cut each square into three individual condensed milk lemon slices for a total of 12 slices.
Notes & Tips
- Because the lemon filling is so creamy, and the graham crumb bottoms are delicate, we prefer eating condensed milk lemon slices with forks rather than as a handheld sweet.
- You must be careful when cutting the slices since the graham crumb bottom is fairly crisp. Using too much force puts your hands at risk of slipping and squishing the creamy lemon filling if the knife cuts through the bottom suddenly.
- Condensed milk lemon slices are best eaten the day they’re made. They can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for two days, however, they may begin to weep. A good alternative is to gently place them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one week. Simply remove however many you need from the freezer, and let them thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
Substitutions
- Chocolate crumbs are a great substitute for graham cracker crumbs if you like. That being said, any cookie crumb bottom you think would be good with lemon is fine. Just substitute the crumbs at a 1:1 ratio.
- You can substitute any citrus for lemon. Grapefruit, lime, and orange are all delicious! I made them with pink grapefruit and added a drop or two of red food coloring to the filling to give it a light pink hue.
- I once made condensed milk lemon slices with the pulp of one passionfruit added to the lemon filling and it was incredibly delicious.
More Lemon And Citrus Recipes
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Printable Recipe Card
Condensed Milk Lemon Slices
Special Equipment
- 8 or 9-inch (20 or 23-cm) square baking dish
- Parchment paper
- 2 Mixing bowls or one mixing bowl washed and dried after making crust
- Measuring cups and spoons or digital kitchen scale
- Rubber spatula or wooden spoon
- Wire cooling rack
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer, or whisk
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 300 ml
- ¾ cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed if possible, approximately 3 lemons
- 4 large egg yolks
- zest of one lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC) and line an 8-inch (20-cm) square baking dish with parchment paper. Leave some paper hanging over the sides of the pan to use as handles to lift the slices out once baked.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt, and melted butter until well combined. Dump the mixture into the prepared square pan and press the crumbs into an even layer with your fingertips. Place the graham crust in the preheated oven and bake it for 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven, and set it aside on a wire cooling rack.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Whisk the condensed milk, lemon juice, egg yolks, and lemon zest together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Pour the lemon filling over the pre-baked graham crust. Place the pan back in the oven and bake the slices for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the filling is slightly jiggly but not wet. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
- When the lemon slices have cooled completely, use the parchment paper handles on the sides of the pan to gently wiggle and coax them from the bottom of the pan. It may take a few tries for the graham crust to release. Once released, use the parchment paper handles to gently lift the lemon slices to a cutting board. Using a long sharp knife, carefully cut the whole thing into four large squares, then cut each square into three individual condensed milk lemon slices and serve.
Recipe Notes
SUBSTITUTIONS
Chocolate crumbs are a great substitute for graham cracker crumbs if you like. That being said, any crumb bottom you think would be good with lemon is fine. Just substitute the crumbs at a 1:1 ratio. You can substitute any citrus for lemon if you like. Grapefruit, lime, and orange are all delicious. I’ve made them with pink grapefruit and added a drop or two of red food colouring to the filling to give it a light pink hue. I once made condensed milk lemon slices with the pulp of one passionfruit added to the lemon filling and it was incredibly delicious!Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate and is provided as a courtesy. For precise nutritional data, please calculate it independently using your preferred nutrition calculator.
I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing! Your "Feisty Chef FTW" cracked me up, by the way. Thanks! 🙂
These sound great!! I will use Vanilla wafers instead, thats what I always use for my cheese cakes its soooo much better than graham crackers.
OMG! these sound amazing and easy! Only thing is ….what are graham crumbs? I've not heard of them…but perhaps we don't have them here is Australia..but i love this recipe and love that you ate nearly all the baked ones in one hit!!!
@Brenda – Not sure if Graham Crackers are available in Australia but if not, you can always make your own!! Check out this link: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/05/graham-crackers/ 🙂
This recipe sounds wonderful and I can't wait to try it. I am looking for things that I can make ahead and freeze for the holidays. Do you know if this would freeze?
@Debbie – I'm not 100% sure how they would hold up frozen, but personally, I throw everything in my freezer!!
made these last night–they were a hit–and as an added bonus I used the leftover egg whites to make meringue and topped the tartlets. The perfect finishing touch.
I am so glad you liked them and I bet they looked really cute topped with meringue. Yum!
If you use a boxed pie filling, could you still bake this?
They look awesome! I wish there are vegan and gluten-free options! I’ll try it out.
Hello Kelly,
I was a huge fan of your original lemon tart recipe. Over the years I lost it. Might I get a copy please?
Thank you
Laura
Hi Laura! The recipe in this post is actually the very same recipe just made into squares/slices rather than baked in muffin cups! I forget the original baking time but I’m thinking because you’d divide the crumbs and filling between 12 muffin cups it’s probably around 10-12 minutes. Thanks for stopping by!