Credit: Serious Eats / Deli Studios
When the weather starts to warm and the flowers begin to bloom, I immediately want to fill my meals with fresh, bright flavors. The problem is that there can be a delay between the first warm days of spring and the moment when actual spring produce becomes available. This brings me to the wonder of citrus. It’s a bright, zippy fruit that is miraculously available in American supermarkets in winter and early spring. To celebrate the first longer, milder days—and to tide you over until the farmers market is offering peak spring fruit ripe for dessert making, like strawberries, rhubarb, and cherries—make these lemony desserts. We’ve got cookies, cakes, tarts, and bars, all of which double down on citrus flavor in the form of juice and zest, so that punchy, puckery lemon is front and center.
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Credit: Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine
This staple cake for British home bakers features bold lemon flavor and a glaze that crystallizes, providing textural contrast to the moist, buttery crumb. The batter comes together in one bowl in just 10 minutes—the only catch is waiting for the glaze to harden, which can take a few hours.
Get Recipe: Lemon Drizzle Cake
02 of 10
Credit: Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
According to senior culinary editor Leah Colins, a lemon tart should taste so lemony it makes your lips pucker. She developed a lemon curd that’s intensely bright and sharp but also smooth and velvety. All that acidity is balanced by a buttery, shortbread-esque crust. And the whole thing takes just 15 minutes of active prep.
Get Recipe: Lemon Tart
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Credit: Serious Eats / Robby Lozano
These cookies use every part of the lemon throughout the dessert. Both juice and zest appear in the cookie dough and in the glaze that coats the finished cookies. Rest assured, that bright, zippy citrus flavor comes through clearly. Letting the dough rest in the fridge serves a few purposes: It fully hydrates the dough, improving texture; prevents the cookies from spreading; and allows enzymes to break down carbohydrates, resulting in a more flavorful cookie.
Get Recipe: Lemon Sugar Cookies
04 of 10
Credit: Serious Eats / Deli Studios
This famous lemon custard pie with a saltine crust was invented by Bill Smith at the landmark restaurant Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The pie balances salty, sweet, and bright flavors—and now you can recreate it at home. Whole eggs give the custard better structure, while whipped cream rather than meringue makes the dessert easier to pull off, with no risk of weeping.
Get Recipe: Atlantic Beach Pie
05 of 10
Credit: Serious Eats / Vy Tran
The amaretto sour has enjoyed a recent revival, though it’s hard to see why it ever went out of style. The cocktail’s combination of punchy citrus—so sour it makes you pucker—and creamy, nutty amaretto liqueur is both craveable and sophisticated. Turning it into a dessert feels both natural and inspired—so much so that I’m jealous I didn’t think of it myself. These punched-up lemon bars feature amaretto-spiked lemon curd baked atop buttery shortbread. The drink’s signature foamy egg white topper is reconfigured here as a meringue topping, and each bar is finished with a festive Amarena cherry.
Get Recipe: Amaretto Sour Lemon Bars
06 of 10
Credit: Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Lemon poppy seed muffins are basically dessert disguised as breakfast, and we’re here for that. To really bring the lemon flavor forward, use a hefty amount of lemon zest and rub it into the sugar, which helps draw out the citrus oils before creaming it with the butter. Poppy seeds add subtle but welcome crunch, and a glaze of lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar delivers a fresh pop of citrus that hits right at the first bite.
Get Recipe: Lemon–Poppy Seed Muffins
07 of 10
Credit: Vicky Wasik
This cheesecake uses freshly squeezed lemon juice, freshly grated zest, lemon essential oil, and orange flower water to capture the full complexity of lemon—not just punchy acidity or bitter astringency. Using both ricotta and cream cheese gives the dessert a lighter texture, while the ricotta adds a slightly funky, cheese-forward flavor rather than simple creaminess.
Get Recipe: Lemon-Ricotta Cheesecake
08 of 10
Credit: Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
In this recipe, senior editor Genevieve was inspired to combine Bill Smith’s lemon pie (featured above) with lemon meringue pie and reimagine it as another beloved dessert: the icebox cake. You’ll layer lemon curd with buttery, salty Ritz crackers and whipped cream. The whole thing is coated in meringue, which you’ll torch for those toasted-marshmallow flavors.
Get Recipe: Lemon Meringue Icebox Cake
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Credit: Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik
These scones are made with both coconut oil and full-fat coconut milk, but they don’t taste like coconut. Instead, those fats provide just the right balance of richness and lightness in the finished scones. Lemon zest ensures real lemon flavor while also highlighting the blueberries. Feel free to add a lemon glaze—lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar will do the trick—to make them more lemon-forward.
Get Recipe: Blueberry-Lemon Scones Recipe
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Credit: Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine
This cake is inspired by a moist, fragrant lemon cake Serious Eats contributor Katie Leaird ate in Puglia, with the addition of almonds. It’s the kind of unflashy bake you can easily justify eating for breakfast with coffee (the Italians do). A combination of cake flour and almond flour keeps the crumb especially light while adding a subtle nuttiness. Ricotta ensures the cake stays moist and rich, while lemon zest and juice provide plenty of citrus flavor.
Get Recipe: Lemon Ricotta Cake
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