Gluten-Free Key Lime Pie Bars
These Key Lime Bars are irresistible! Creamy, tangy and refreshing, they are a perfect Spring and Summer dessert. And with just 10 ingredients, they are incredibly easy to make! You can use regular limes if you can't find key limes.
Servings: 16 servings
Equipment
- 1 8 inch square baking pan
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1½ cups gluten-free graham cracker crumbs (we made them using 1 box + 1 sleeve of Schar honeygrams pulsed in a food processsor)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch salt
- 1 large egg white
- 3 tablespoons butter or dairy-free butter, melted
Key Lime Filling
- 4 oz cream cheese or dairy-free cream cheese, room temperature it is important that it is room temperature so that it mixes well with the egg yolks
- 4 large egg yolks, room temperature use one egg white for the graham cracker crust, and save the others for an egg white omelette or scramble.
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon lime juice juice of 3-4 limes depending on size
- 2 teaspoons lime zest, packed zest of 2 limes
- 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk or sweetened condensed coconut milk if dairy-free
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8 inch pan with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix all the graham cracker crust ingredients with a mixer or by hand until well combined.
- Press into the parchment lined pan using your fingers until it makes one even layer.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until set and just golden. Let cool and set aside.
Key Lime Filling
- When graham cracker crust is out of the oven, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl, using the paddle attachment of your mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
- Add egg yolks and using the whisk attachment, mix to combine with cream cheese, then mix on medium high for 1 minute until smooth, creamy and there are no cream cheese lumps (mix longer as needed to be well combined with no cream cheese lumps).
- Add sweetened condensed milk, lime juice and zest and whisk to combine, scraping down the sides as needed. It will be thick and creamy. Use your spatula to make sure there is no cream cheese stuck at the bottom of the bowl, then whisk one more time.
- Pour onto cooled graham cracker crust. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until edges set and center only slightly "jiggly". Pro tip: check at 15 minutes, if not done, cover loosely with foil and bake an additional minute or two.
- Let cool in pan for an hour, then chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours, or overnight.
- When ready to serve, grab edges parchment paper and life bars out of pan. Slice and serve. To make extra special, add a dollop of whipped cream and some lime zest before serving. Enjoy!
- Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Tried this recipe?Mention @HealthyGFFamily or tag #HealthyGFFamily!
I made this recipe today and the filling didn’t set. The crust was very good but I’m not sure what I did wrong but the filling was not good. I used vegan cream cheese so maybe that’s the problem. The filling was runnier than I expected and stayed that way even with an additional 8 minutes in the oven. Also it was quite sweet. Maybe the vegan cream cheese.
hmmmm, I’m sorry you had that problem. I’ve made this many times and it’s always set in the time frame and it’s actually more tart than sweet… the vegan cream cheese shouldn’t have made a difference as long as it was the correct quantity, so I’m honestly not sure what happened… except, did you increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees after taking out the graham cracker crust? Oven temperature could have caused it not to set…
one last thought… making sure the cream cheese and eggs are room temperature really make a difference in ensuring the cream cheese and egg yolks combine well and that could impact texture.
Can the recipe be doubled?
Great question! I haven’t doubled it myself. It should work, just be sure the ingredients are room temperature and really mixed well. Let me know if you try them!