| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 50 min |
| Cook: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 16 squares |
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- 16 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract or lime extract
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes)
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
Instructions
- In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla and mix. With the mixer running at low speed, add the flour and mix. Press the dough into an 8 by 8-inch baking pan. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Prick the dough all over with a fork, then bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool.
- Cream Cheese Filling: In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add the eggs and extract and mix at medium speed until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Lime Filling: In a non-reactive saucepan, whisk the egg yolks, cornstarch, and sugar. Whisk in the water, salt, and lime juice and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Whisking constantly, cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, add the zest and butter, and stir until smooth. Let cool 10 minutes.
- Reheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Using a spatula, spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the cooled crust. Spread the lime filling over the cream cheese filling. Bake until the edges are light golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool in the pan, on a wire rack, to room temperature. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight before cutting into 16 squares with a sharp knife. Serve chilled.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 16 servings |
| Calories | 353 |
| Total Fat | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Carbohydrates | 45 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 37 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 107 mg |
| Sodium | 151 mg |
Reviews
These bars are completely delicious. I made them last night to serve as dessert tonight. Based on other reviews I left them in the oven 10 minutes longer than called for and they were fantastic. I think the key in getting them to firm up is chilling them at least overnight. I gave this recipe a 4 because although it is very tasty and the recipe isn’t hard, there’s a lot of waiting time between the steps which makes the process a little long.
Do not listen to these other reviews unless there saying how fabulous they are!
This recipe is fantastic. It’s just like what i used to my at a nearby bakery. My only recommendation would be to half the cream cheese filling portion.
I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out very different than I expected. The crust was the only thing that worked. The recipe called for about twice as much as needed for the cream cheese layer. It filled my 8×8 baking dish enough that there was just barely enough room to put the lime layer on top! A huge drawback to this was that the stated baking time was not nearly enough to cook the whole thing through, so I had to leave it in an extra 15+ minutes and still I had to hope it was done. And don’t think it only takes an hour to set in the fridge; it took more like 24 to get it to set enough so that I could cut it and it didn’t completely loose the square shape. Also, the lime layer was overpowering. Even with the huge cream cheese layer, my husband and I couldn’t taste anything but the tart lime. I was looking for a fun variation on the lemon bar idea, but with how this recipe turned out I’ll never do it again.
this recipe turned out delicious with a few adjustments… based on past reviews, i halved the cream cheese mixture. and to help it set up, i used half the water for the lime curd (but added a little more fresh lime juice) and increased the corn starch by 1/2 tbsp. finally, when baking, I increased the temp to 350 for the last 15 minutes. it came out fantastic!
optional adjustments: i chose not to have the bars so limey. in the cookie base, i added 1 teaspoon of almond extract and about 1/3 cup of almond paste (not marzipan). i didn’t use lemon/lime extract for the cream cheese layer, instead i just used some more vanilla extract. and to make it a bit more presentable, i dolloped the lime and marbled the cream cheese and lime layers.
When I saw this recipe I thought it would be good even though the picture looked teribble. I was wrong. Suprisingly, they tasted even worse than they looked.
These were wonderful as far as taste — but TOO GOOEY!!! The problem I had was with the lime topping. It never set up. I even resorted to freezing them, which helped a little. Not sure how to fix the problem.
Let me first say that the flavor of these bars is outstanding!!!!! I agree with Louann about the amount of filling. My bars didn’t set up either, but that didn’t prevent them from disappearing quickly.
Excellent flavor, but I found that there was way too much cheese filling for the 9×9 pan. It didn’t set up and I had a gooey mess. I think maybe cooking a little longer may help it set up a bit more or cutting the filling ingredients in half may also help.
This is so delicious you have to try it to believe it.