Table|Spoon Baking Co.

Key Lime Pie Bars

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These Key Lime Pie Bars are my favorite warm-weather dessert. Sweet, tart, and creamy – they are perfect for a sunny day. I love having Key Lime Pie in bar form. It’s fun, different, and a great way to make dessert for a crowd. I’m a Minnesotan – you know we love our dessert bars!

[This size recipe makes one 8×8 pan of bars, or a 9-inch round pie. The recipe can easily be doubled if you want to make a larger batch. I used an 8×8-inch cake pan that I sprayed with nonstick spray and lined with parchment paper. If you are going to make this in a square cake pan I highly recommend that you carefully line it with parchment paper so that you can easily remove the bars from the pan. Make it Better with Thomas Joseph has a really great quick video that shows exactly how to line a square baking pan with parchment paper. I highly recommend checking it out before making these – just to make sure your bars come out of the pan in one piece! You can watch it here.]

We’ll start by making the graham crust. You can do this with a food processor or just crunch the graham crackers up in a zip-lock bag using a rolling pin. Once the graham crackers are ground down to crumbs, stir them together with the sugar, pinch of salt, and melted butter. Press this mixture into your prepared pan or pie tin. Bake the crust in a 350-degree oven for 6 minutes.

While the crust is baking we can start on the filling – which couldn’t be easier! All we’re going to do is whisk together 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk, 1 cup of lime or key lime juice, 1/2 cup sour cream, 2 egg yolks, and 2 tablespoons of lime zest. That’s it! Just whisk them all together until the mixture is smooth. See, I told you it was easy!

Now that the filling is mixed together, just pour it on top of your graham crust. Bake your bars for 10 – 12 minutes. The filling will still be a little jiggly and that is okay! Allow it to cool on the counter for a little while before you put it in your fridge. The bars need to chill in your fridge for AT LEAST 2 hours so that the filling can set up all the way. I like to make them the day before I need them so that they have all night to chill in the fridge. If you try to cut them too early they will be really goopy and difficult to take out of the pan.

Once they have cooled and set up, top them with whipped cream and more lime zest. Carefully remove them from your pan – use the parchment paper to gently pull the bars out of the pan and then quickly set them down on a cutting board. Slice them into bars and enjoy!

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Key Lime Pie Bars

  • Author: Table|Spoon Baking
  • Prep Time: 3 hours
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
  • Yield: 8x8 pan 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American
Print Recipe

Description

The perfect combination of creamy, sweet + tart! These Key Lime Pie Bars are the perfect warm-weather dessert.

Ingredients

Scale

For the crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker
  • 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 4 Tbsp. Butter – melted
  • Pinch of Salt

For the filling:

  • 2 14oz. cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 1/2 cup Sour Cream
  • 1 cup Lime Juice
  • 2 Yolks
  • 2 Tbsp. Lime Zest

For the whipped cream:

  • 1 cup Heavy Cream
  • 2 Tbsp. Powdered Sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350-degrees.
  2. Line an 8×8-inch cake pan with parchment paper and spray liberally with nonstick spray. (You can also use a 9-inch pie tin instead if you just want to make a traditional pie.)
  3. Using a food processor, pulse together the graham crackers, sugar, and salt until you have nice small crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined.
  4. Press this mixture into your prepared pan.
  5. Bake the crust for 6 minutes at 350-degrees.
  6. Whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, juice, zest, and egg yolks until smooth.
  7. Pour this mixture over your baked crust.
  8. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes at 350-degrees. The filling will still be a little jiggly when you remove it from the oven – that is perfectly fine!
  9. Allow the bars to cool to room temperature, and then place them in your fridge to chill and finish setting up.
  10. Allow the bars to chill and firm up in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
  11. Whip together the heavy cream and powdered sugar until fluffy.
  12. Top bars with whipped cream and more lime zest.
  13. Using the parchment paper that is sticking up along the sides of the bars, very carefully lift the bars out of the pan BEFORE cutting them into pieces. They may stick a little so just go slowly and be gentle. Be sure to pull up evenly so that you don’t squish them.
  14. Place the bars on a cutting board and slice into squares. Enjoy!

Keywords: Key Lime, Pie, Bars, Lime, Citrus, Dessert, Key Lime Pie