143 lemon dessert recipes

Traditional Middle Eastern semolina cake drenched in lemon syrup. This easy yogurt-based dessert bakes golden brown and soaks up fragrant citrus syrup for a moist, tender treat perfect with tea.

Candied spiced bananas pan-fried in brown sugar, lemon, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Caramelized on the outside, soft inside, ready in 10 minutes for ice cream toppings, brunch, or quick dessert.

Old-fashioned wine jelly made with sweet wine, lemon juice, and unflavored gelatin. A Victorian-era holiday dessert served chilled in a glass bowl with custard sauce poured over each spoonful.

Cranberry sauce for holiday meringues: a glossy, ruby-red dessert sauce made from cranberry juice, sugar, lemon, and a touch of cornstarch. Perfect spooned over crisp meringues, ice cream, or pavlova.

Mock cheesecake uses blended tofu, honey, lemon juice, and vanilla in place of cream cheese for a vegan-friendly, dairy-free dessert baked into a graham cracker crust. Surprisingly creamy and bright.

Easy lemonade pie folds frozen lemonade concentrate and lemon zest into whipped topping for a 3-ingredient no-bake summer dessert. Set in a graham crust or sliced from a baking dish.

Flambeed peaches in a port wine and cherry jelly sauce with cinnamon and lime, spooned over lemon ice cream. A dramatic tableside dessert that goes from chafing dish to plate in 20 minutes.

Wine fruit cup with sliced plums, nectarines, and golden raisins soaked in a spiced white wine syrup infused with anise, cinnamon, and lemon. A chilled starter that doubles as a light summer dessert.

Fig garden party cakes layer sponge cake or lady fingers with a homemade dried-fig filling cooked down with peanut butter, butter, and lemon juice. A vintage tea-table dessert with surprising depth.

Fresh fruit ice is a light, low-fat frozen dessert made with orange juice, lemon, mashed banana, and strawberries or peaches. Gelatin and a rebeat give it a creamy, scoopable texture without a churn ice cream maker.

A refreshing frozen citrus ice made with orange, grapefruit, and lemon juices thickened with gelatin and sweetened with sugar substitute. Light, tangy, and practically guilt-free, this diabetic-friendly dessert is pure frozen sunshine.

A light, airy no-bake peach lemon chiffon pie: gelatin-set peaches and tangy lemonade folded with whipped evaporated milk in a graham crust. A cool, fluffy summer dessert that skips the oven entirely.

Golden Wardens are whole pears poached slowly in honey, white grape juice, and lemon until the syrup turns burnished and the fruit collapses to butter-soft. An English heritage dessert built for the hardest, most stubborn pears.

Pineapple sorbet purees fresh pineapple with light corn syrup and fresh lemon juice for a bright, dairy-free frozen dessert. Three ingredients, no ice cream maker needed if you've got a blender. Tropical sweetness in every spoonful.

This simple fruit salad works at the start of the meal or as a dessert. The fruit is lightly glazed with either a simple syrup or agave syrup. Ginger, a bit of lemon, and some savory thyme which pairs amazingly with summer fruits accents the tartness of the berries and the sweetness of the stone fruit.