Key Lime Bars

I LOVE key lime.  I think it started when I visited a friend in Florida and we took a cruise.  The last stop was Key West (where her sister lived) and we stopped in at this store to have frozen key lime pie, dipped in chocolate and placed on a stick.  YUM.

I recently ordered two bottles of key lime juice from this store and devoted an entire Pinterest board to Key Lime recipes.  Here is the first one I'm trying, with some modifications.

The Recipe:

The Crust:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour

Cream Cheese Layer:

1 pkg 8 oz. cream cheese, softened 

1/4 c sugar 

2 Tbsp 2% milk 

1 tsp vanilla extract

Key Lime Layer:

1 1/2 c sugar 

1/4 c all purpose flour 

1 1/4 eggs 

1/2 c key lime juice 

1/2 tsp confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden.
4. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, milk, and vanilla until blended; spread over crust to edges of pan. In another small bowl, combine sugar and flour; whisk in eggs and lime juice. Gently pour over cream cheese layer. 
5. Bake for 20-25 min. or until filling is set. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled. Cut into bars. Before serving, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. 

First you will need...

1 cup butter, softened (I used salted)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour


Mix them together really well and press it into the pan.

Now bake it for 15-20 mins until it's slightly golden. I recommend cooling it before the next step!


Next you will need...

 

1 pkg 8 oz. cream cheese, softened 

1/4 c sugar 

2 Tbsp 2% milk 

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, milk, and vanilla until it's blended. Next, spread it over crust to edges of pan.  Again, I recommend cooling it first, otherwise you'll get crust chunks in the layer.  It'll probably taste good, but it won't look as professional.

Mmmmmm

Next you will need...

1 1/2 c sugar 

1/4 c all purpose flour 

1 1/4 eggs 

1/2 c key lime juice 

1/2 tsp confectioners' sugar

So you'll mix the sugar and flour and then you're supposed to add 1 & 1/4 eggs...I wasn't really sure how to divide an egg into quarters, sooo I separated the second egg and used the white.  We'll see whether or not it worked!  Then mix in the lime juice.  Mmmm the pièce de resistance! 

Now pour that over the crust and cream cheese layers and pop it into the oven for 20-25 minutes until it's set.  Now cool it for an hour.

As I'm writing this I'm "patiently" waiting for it to cool for 1 hour in the fridge so I can give you my verdict.  Now that I'm re-reading it, I was supposed to cool it on a wire rack before I popped it into the fridge.  Ooops.  Before I eat it, I'm also supposed to sprinkle confectioner's sugar.

Ok so I don't really know how to sprinkle the sugar well...and quite frankly, I couldn't wait for it to be completely cooled (so when I was jiggling the plate to spread the sugar, a chunk of layer shifted)....and it was SOOO yummy.

The verdict:

I'll do it again...I'll let the crust cool and I'll try to be patient before I steal a slice!