Strawberry Lemonade Dream Bars

It’s the perfect time of year to enjoy a cool, no-bake dessert with these fruity Strawberry Lemonade Dream Bars! With sweet strawberries and fresh lemon juice, all the flavors of your favorite beverage can be found in these creamy dessert bars! A smooth strawberry cream is layered over no-bake lemon cheesecake filling, all on a crunchy Nilla wafer crust. One bite and your taste buds will be singing!

This Dream Bar recipe, like many of my others, is perfect for summer parties or dessert after a special event. While it takes a bit of time to prepare these strawberry lemonade bars, I promise that the end result is well worth the effort! 

 Recipe Notes

Use the amounts of water in this recipe required to mix the strawberry gelatin. DO NOT use the amounts listed in the box instructions. We want a more stable gelatin and less of it.

If the strawberry cream mixture is left in the refrigerator for more than one hour, the gelatin will harden and form. This isn’t an issue unless you want a completely creamy layer for the top with NO strawberry or red gelatin specks. 

Images in this post depict a halved recipe made in an 8 x8-inch baking pan, so the cheesecake and strawberry cream layers will be thinner when made in a 9 X 13-inch pan. 

Know that if you divide this recipe in half to make in an 8 X 8 or 9 X 9-inch pan that there may be some leftover Strawberry Cream Layer. But that’s ok! It’s delicious eaten on it’s own with a bit of whipped cream.

Ingredients for Strawberry Lemonade Dream Bars

Here’s what you need to make these creamy strawberry lemon bars:

Nilla Wafer Crust

Nilla Wafer Cookie Crumbs (about 90 cookies worth)

Salted or Unsalted butter – either is fine

Strawberry Cream Layer

Strawberry JELL-O: you need 7 ounces so one large package or two smaller packages will work.

Boiling water

Cold water

Cream cheese (room temperature)

Cool Whip

Cheesecake Layer

Cream cheese (yes, you need this for both layers!)

Powdered sugar

Fresh lemon juice

Fresh lemon zest

Cool Whip

Additional Ingredients

Fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

More Cool Whip (or use my Stabilized Whipped Cream Recipe)

Review the recipe card below for the exact amounts needed for each ingredient!

How to Make Strawberry Lemonade Dessert Bars

Let’s make these Strawberry Dream Bars one layer at a time. We’ll start with the buttery shortbread-style crust!

Nilla Wafer Crust

Prepare a 9 X 13-inch baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, melt butter in a microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir and melt for another 5-10 seconds, if necessary.

In a food processor, pulse the Nilla Wafers until they are fine crumbs. Add the cookie crumbs to the melted butter and mix with a rubber spatula until all are well incorporated. If you don’t have a food processor, you could use a blender, or do it by hand with a pastry blender.

Pour the crumb mixture into the prepared pan and spread, pressing down to create an even crust. Place the pan into the freezer while preparing the rest of the recipe for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Strawberry Gelatin

In a large bowl, mix the strawberry gelatin with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Stir until dissolved. Add the 1 1/2 cups cold water and stir. Place into refrigerator until completely cooled, but not set – about 10 minutes.

Strawberry Cream Layer

In a mixing bowl, beat 16 ounces of the cream cheese until smooth.

Using a ladle, slowly add in the chilled gelatin mix while mixing everything together. This could take 8-10 minutes depending on how slowly you add it and how well incorporated you want it. The more slowly you pour in the gelatin, the smoother the mixture will be without any lumps of cream cheese. Once it is completely smooth, place the bowl into the refrigerator to chill and thicken for one hour.

Lemon Cheesecake Layer

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat another 12 ounces of cream cheese, the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest together until smooth and creamy. With a rubber spatula, fold in 1 1/2 cups of the Cool Whip to the lemon mixture.

Place dollops of the cream cheese mixture onto the frozen crust and with an offset spatula, spread to form an even layer.

Scatter the diced strawberries evenly over the top of the cheesecake layer.

Assembly

After the Strawberry Cream mixture has been refrigerated for an hour, fold in 4 cups of the Cool Whip with a rubber spatula until evenly distributed and smooth.

Gently pour the strawberry cream over the strawberries and cheesecake layer and spread evenly with an offset spatula.

Place into the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours, but it’s best if refrigerated overnight.

How to serve Strawberry Lemonade Dream Bars

When slicing, run a large knife under hot water, dry it off, and then slice through the bars, repeating with each cut. This will help make clean cuts.

Serve with dollops of additional Cool Whip or my Stabilized Whipped Cream, fresh strawberries, and lemon zest.

How to store Dream Bars

Keep these bars tightly covered in an airtight container in the fridge for another 2 days. Serve leftovers directly from the fridge!

More Dream Bars to Try

If you love easy recipes like these no-bake desserts, you’ll love the rest of my Dream Bar recipes.
 There’s a flavor for everyone!

Peanut Butter and chocolate are always a delicious combination, so try my Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Bars.

Like chocolate, caramel, and pecans? Then these Easy No Bake Turtle Dream Bars will remind you of those candies everyone loves so much.

You can also choose to go with a fruit-flavored one.

I’ve got these sweet Strawberry Cheesecake Dream Bars, and this one made with chocolate AND strawberries.

Banana lovers will enjoy this one too!

​More of the Season’s Most Iconic Desserts

​Try this Classic Lemon Bar recipe!

You’ll love this Strawberry Shortcake Recipe too. Anything made with fruity strawberries is perfect for spring!

I love recipes made with Lemon Curd, like the layers of lemon in these Lemon Dream Bars, or this Lemon Poke Cake.

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