Key Lime Bars
These Key Lime bars are filled with tart goodness, a creamy whipped cream, crunchy graham cracker, and coconut crust.
Ingredients in Key Lime Bars:
- unsalted butter
- Key limes (Persian limes work fine)
- eggs
- sour cream or Greek yogurt
- heavy cream
- vanilla extract- buy Wild Montana Foods Vanilla extract HERE
- light brown sugar
- sugar
- confectioner’s sugar
- sweetened flaked coconut
- salt
- graham crackers
- sweetened condensed milk
Special Equipment Needed for this recipe:
- Food Processor
- Sharp knife
- 8″ x 8″ metal baking pan- buy my favorite HERE
- piping bags and Ateco #849 piping tip or Wilton 1M piping tip
How to Make Key Lime Bars:
Make a crust by pulsing graham crackers, coconut, sugar, butter and salt in a food processor. Press into a square baking pan and bake until barely golden brown.
Make the filling by combining sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, vanilla, eggs, sour cream or greek yogurt and vanilla sugar and then pouring it into the cooled crust. Bake until set- about 10 minutes. Chill for 4 hours. Trim the edges for a professional look.
Top with sweetened whipped cream and lime slices.
Pro-Tips for a perfect Key Lime Bar:
- Use only fresh squeezed juice for a more tart flavor. Jarred or bottled juice can taste muddled.
- Be certain to reduce the oven temp when baking the bars.
- Cool the bars for at least 4 hours so they set up completely.
- Use the best quality vanilla you can buy. Even in fruitier tart desserts- imitation vanilla can cloud the flavor.
- Use fresh whipped cream. Canned whipped cream is fine, but fresh really elevates the tastes with its’ mild sweetness.
Common Questions:
Yes- absolutely.
Chill the bars in the fridge, tightly covered, up to 4 days.
The dairy ingredients in this recipe will break down, but you can freeze the bars without the whipped cream. Wrap leftover or unsliced bars tightly in plastic wrap, slide into a zip top bar and freeze. To thaw- place in the fridge and thaw overnight.
No- there is gluten in the graham crackers.
Use plain Greek yogurt in the filling and not sour cream, monk fruit instead of sugar in the whipped cream and a lower fat sweetened condensed milk. That should shave off a few calories.
Other tart and sweet desserts to try:
Key Lime Bars
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 ½ cups graham crackers crumbs about 24 graham crackers
- 2 TBSP light brown sugar packed
- ⅓ cups sweetened flaked coconut
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter
Filling:
- 12 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 large whole egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup plus 2 TBSP Key Lime juice
- ½ cup full fat sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 1 TBSP vanilla sugar
Whipped Cream Topping:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream Very cold
- 1 TBSP Confectioner's (10x) sugar
- * lime wedges & zest to garnish
Instructions
For the Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch square metal baking pan with parchment paper leaving an overhang of about 2 inches on the sides to act as a sling to remove the bars.
- Make the graham cracker – coconut crust. Break graham crackers into small pieces and place into a food processor fitted with a blade attachment. Pulse until it resembles fine crumbs. Add brown sugar, coconut, salt and melted butter and pulse again until the mixture looks like damp sand.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan and use the bottom of a measuring cup to press down the crumbs to form a firm crust. Make certain the crust forms an even layer. Bake for about 15 minutes until fragrant and the crust is just golden brown along the edges.
- Remove and cool 10 minutes.
For the Filling
- While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Combine sweetened condensed milk, whole egg, egg yolks and vanilla extract into a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Stir in lime juice, sour cream or yogurt and sugar. Carefully pour the mixture over the cooled baked crust.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake for 15-20 minutes until the filling is just set and still a little jiggly and loose in the center.
- Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
- Cover and refrigerate the bars for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
Prepare the Whipped Cream before Serving:
- Run a knife around the edges of the pan. Grasping the parchment sling, lift the key lime bars out of the baking pan in one single piece .
- Trim the edges around the bars to make clean edges and a more professional look.
- Place Key Lime bars onto a serving platter and chill until ready to pipe on the whipped cream.
- Before serving: Make the whipped cream topping. Place very cold heavy whipping cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. If using a hand mixer, prepare the whipped cream in a very large bowl.
- Beat on low speed for 30 seconds until slightly thickened.
- Add in 1 TBSP confectioner's sugar and continue beating on high until stiff peaks form, 1 minute more.
- Pipe the whipped cream onto the cold bars using a star or decorative tip. Garnish with lime wedges and lime zest over just before serving and cut into squares to serve. You can return to the fridge for about 30 minutes prior to serving.
