When the warm weather hits, those backyard barbecue, potluck, and picnic invites always have a way of piling up. With so many events in the summer, it can be easy to get into a potluck dish rut. Hey, even if you’re famous for your brownies, switching up your desserts can be a welcome change.
However, going from a recipe you have down pat to something entirely new can be daunting. No one wants a new recipe to flop—especially if it requires you to go buy new ingredients and you need it for a party ASAP. So, what’s an easy, tried and true? Using a box mix.
Before you say that’s cheating (by the way, it’s not), there are ways to doctor up a few store-bought ingredients and turn them into something entirely new.
TikTok user @meandcharlee_talkin recently showcased that when she shared her two-ingredient lemon bars on social media. Yes, you read that correctly, just two ingredients for zesty, gooey lemon bars—and they’re both from the grocery store.
How to Make 2-Ingredient Lemon Bars
All you need to make this easy summer dessert is a can of lemon pie filling and a box of angel food cake mix. And, to make things even easier, this recipe only takes two minutes to assemble, according to @meandcharlee_talkin.
“I know you’re skeptical of me right now, I would be, too,” she said in the video. “Just trust me, I’m telling you this actually works.”
So, how do you makes these two-ingredient lemon bars? Add an entire can of pie filling and a bag of angel food cake mix into a bowl. Then, stir it together until just combined. Dump the mixture into a greased 9×13-inch casserole dish and bake the lemon bars in a 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
Here’s the “trust the process” moment. When the dessert comes out of the oven, it’ll look more like a jiggly cake than crust-on-the-bottom, gooey-in-the-center lemon bars. However, @meandcharlee_talkin just tucks the edges back into the pan and allows for the dessert to cool completely.
After about an hour and a half, the dessert has fallen and looks more like a traditional lemon bar—meaning it is ready to come out of the pan. She scoops the entire dessert out in one piece, then tops it with optional powdered sugar.
When she bites into the bars, any skepticism is gone as the texture looks nearly identical to a true lemon bar.
The video went bananas on TikTok, raking in more than 2.6 million views, and users flooded the comments with excitement to try out the method, praise for the recipe, and suggestions for other recipes.
Angel food cake is incredibly versatile. We’ve mixed up a similar dessert using crushed canned pineapples, and commenters say you can try it with other pie fillings, too, like cherry or blueberry. And, it turns out angel food cake isn’t just a great base, but most cake mixes are. Combine spice cake mix with a can of pumpkin for a tasty fall dessert or try your favorite boxed mix with a soda for an extra moist crumb.
The boxed cake mix possibilities are practically endless, but for now, we’ll be fixated on making two-ingredient lemon bars all summer long.
