Key Lime Bars
- Comments()
- Yield Makes about 16
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons finely ground graham cracker crumbs
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
- 2/3 cup fresh Key lime juice (about 23 Key limes total)
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 Key limes, thinly sliced into half-moons
Directions
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Make crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a small bowl. Press evenly onto bottom of an 8-inch square glass baking dish. Bake until dry and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. (Leave oven on.)
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Make filling: Put egg yolks and lime zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on high speed until very thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add condensed milk in a slow, steady stream, mixing constantly. Raise speed to high; mix until thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add lime juice; mix until just combined.
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Spread filling evenly over crust using a spatula. Bake, rotating dish halfway through, until filling is just set, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or overnight).
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Cut into 2-by-2-inch bars. Put cream in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the clean whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Garnish bars with whipped cream and a slice of lime.
Cook's Note
Ungarnished bars can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 3 days.
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God is Good, God Is Great, Let Us Thank Him For The Magic Of Anita Pelaez and Her Key Lime Pies. Ahmen.
I love this recipe. It is so delicious. I am going to make them for St. Patrick's Day!
I've used this recipe a few times this summer. It is even better than the one I had been using for a pie. In fact, when I recently went to Florida (not the keys though) I ordered a slice of key lime pie at a bakery thinking I was in key lime pie territory. I ended up throwing it out because it didn't compare to the one I'm making in the midwest! I use bottled key lime juice along with my own recipe for homemade whipped cream and it's perfect.
I have made this recipe for three different parties this summer- twice with fresh squeezed key lime juice and once with the bottled juice. While I had a slight preference for the fresh limes, each time I made it the bars were the first dessert to go! At one party, they never made it out of the kitchen! The crust itself is so appealing that I almost buried my face in it the moment it came out of the oven!
Add confectioners sugar to the whipped cream if you like it on the sweet side. YUM!!!!
To anon414........the sweetness in the filling comes from the condensed milk. It is very rich and sweet. Not sure why your squares were not. Did you maybe use evaporated milk instead?
Good baking!!
This recipe is to die for!
I did have to make adjustments in the recipe- I made more graham cracker crust to make a nice base and since I was transporting this I froze rosettes of whipped cream and sprinkled zest for garnish. I can't believe my market actually had key limes and the clerk suggested squeezing them with a garlic press. It worked great and they tasted wonderful!
I was so disappointed in this recipe, and I followed it exactly. There was way too much butter in the crust, and after baking with the liquid filling, it turned out to be completely soggy and mushy. The filling was WAY too sour - there definitely needs to be sugar or some kind of sweetener in this. The end product was inedible, and I had to throw the whole tray out. Such a waste!
This is a simple recipe and the bars are simply wonderful. Light and perfect! I had to transport them, so I did not serve with whipped cream. I toasted a bit of coconut and sprinkled on top, right before serving! Be sure to do all the mixing for the time described in directions, for a light and fluffy filling. Do refrigerate over night, too!
"Florribean Lime Juice" not from concentrate is available from King Arthur Flour.Closet to "Joe's" been able to find in VA. Real Limes are very small and Not deep Green.Roll them.A very different flavour from Larger Limes.Also,a few moments on "low" in Micro should give more Juice if "rolling" them doesn't Produce.Some haven't juice inside,look like "cotton".Great recipe any way one does it.
I love this recipe but I use passion fruit (we call it lilikoi in Hawaii) juice instead of lime juice and oooh my god-It's absolutely sinful!!! I always substitute a couple of tablespoons of organic extra virgin coconut oil for some of the butter and I add some shredded coconut to the food processor with the graham crackers. It's an incredible alteration! Tonight I'm trying chocolate graham crackers for the crust. We'll see how that turns out.
Some of you closer to the Mason-Dixon line will know that you can get key lime juice in bottles, which allows all of us to have this wonderful pie all year 'round. There is a difference between the key lime and a regular lime, and the bottled juice is the next best thing. I don't think that regular lime juice even compares.
Super simple to make, but look difficult and so delicious. I served them the way depicted in the photo; a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkle of crumbs, no lime slice tho. They really impressed. Definite winner!
These were pretty much a snap to make. Though having a Kitchen Aid to whip those yolks takes the work out of it. Hand whipping would be a hassle I used bitter orange instead of limes, and it turned out great. You could probably substitute lemon or grapefruit.
These were pretty much a snap to make. Though having a Kitchen Aid to whip those yolks takes the work out of it. Hand whipping would be a hassle I used bitter orange instead of limes, and it turned out great. You could probably substitute lemon or grapefruit.
rats! my comments never show up properly. wanted to say just made these and they were delicious.
Just made these
These are amazing...in South Florida, Key Limes are found everywhere, if you dont have a neighbor with a tree, then you can go to the grocery store and buy a bag of 12 or so for less than $5.00.
To jimsonly-apparently you have never used a true KEY LIME. They are very small, that is why you need approx. 23 of them.
Martha,
For 2/3 cup of fresh lime juice, you need 23 fresh limes? Whoever types/edits your recipes gets very sloppy with accurate measurements
i agree with photothyme, this is sublime!!. in south africa we do not know what graham cracker crumbs are, so i used nutticrust biscuits, which have a ginger flavour - divine!!!! i actually used 1 and a half tins of condensmilk, as i looked at the weight
These key lime bars are sublime (no pun intended). However note the error in the list of ingredients. It should read: 1 CAN sweetened condensed milk, (14 ounces), NOT 1 CUP sweetened condensed milk, (14 ounces).