Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

Nothing brings a recipe to life like fresh lemons! For a change of pace from the standard Southern-style lemon bars, you need to look no further! This recipe is easy and the taste is divine. I have also made this with Splenda(R) and low-fat cream cheese and they were just as wonderful.”

Ingredients

cooking spray

2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent roll dough (such as Pillsbury(R) Recipe Creations(R)), divided

2 lemons, zested and juiced, divided

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

3 tablespoons white sugar

Set oven temperature to 350 F (175 C). Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and cover the bottom with aluminum foil. Fill the baking dish with 1 can of crescent roll dough, pressing it all the way to the edges. In a bowl, combine the juice from two lemons and the zest of one and a half lemons. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar into lemon zest mixture until smooth and creamy. Spread over layer of crescent roll dough. Gently stretch the second can of crescent roll dough to the edges and place it on top of the cream cheese mixture. Drizzle the layer of crescent roll dough with melted butter. In a dish, combine the remaining lemon zest and 3 tablespoons sugar; sprinkle over butter.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown, in a preheated oven. Let cool for approximately twenty minutes. Using foil, remove the dessert from the oven dish and place it on a chopping board. Slice, reserving on foil, into squares. Place the dessert back in the baking dish and chill it for at least an hour.