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bake sale week: lime bars
Well, I think I actually like these better than lemon bars. Believe me, I have been checking and rechecking all day. After eating at least seven for a late lunch (after my earlier lunch of 3 slices of leftover banana bread), I can definitely say, with perfect confidence, that they are quite good. But now I have headache.
Sorry they don’t look very limey like the box mixes you can get in the store. The eggs just make these look yellow. If you look really closely, you can see the little flecks of lime zest. That’s as green as I could get them without adding green food coloring, which I would never do.
lime bars
For the crust:
9 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick, plus one tablespoon)
1/4 cup (55g) superfine sugar (or regular granulated)
1 cup (150g) of unbleached all-purpose flour
pinch salt
For the filling:
1 1/2 cups (330g) superfine sugar (or regular granulated)
3 eggs
2/3 cup (150g) freshly squeezed lime juice (from 4-5 limes)
2 tablespoons lime zest (from 4-5 limes)
2/3 cup (100g) unbleached, all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 degrees Celsius). Line a 8×8″ * square baking pan with a strip of parchment paper (8×14″) that covers the bottom and overlaps on either side. (This is so after it cools, you can pull out the entire pan of lime bars and cut them neatly. You can omit this step completely, though. You don’t even need to butter the pan.)
2. Cream butter, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer. Mix in flour until just incorporated. Press dough evenly into 8×8″ square baking pan.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly golden brown. While it cools, prepare the filling.
4. Whisk all ingredients except for the confectioner’s sugar in a large bowl. Pour into crust. Bake for 30-35 minutes until filling is completely set. Let cool completely. (I help mine along in the freezer for about an hour.) Using the overlapping edges of parchment paper, gently lift the dessert from the pan. Cut into 16 squares. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.
* This recipe works really well with a silicone pan. If you have one, use it!
32 Responses to “bake sale week: lime bars”
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All I have to say is – are you related to Martha?!? The treats are beautiful. I’m almost afraid to bake any of them because certainly they will not turn out that way and I like to think that I CAN cook!
Lori
Put green food coloring in with the lemon mixture. That works!
Hi Jamie,
What a wonderful blog. Your pictures are nice and I am so tempted to make some of those bake sale treats. I remember the bake sales at my elementary school, too. My mom never baked anything and I always thought I would grow up and bake for my children’s school. Unfortunately we sell wrapping paper.
Sometimes we make treats and stop by a friends house to share.
These look fabulous…I love all things lemon or lime.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Wow! Such beautiful pictures ~ I love citrus bars of all types but I have such a problem cutting them… it turns out really messy! How do you do it?
To get my lemon bars to stay neat when I cut them, I start by preparing the pan by putting a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom with the ends coming up over the sides. After the bars are finished baking, I let them cool completely on the counter, or I cheat and throw them in the freezer. Once they are pretty solid, I use the ends two ends of parchment paper to pull the whole brick of bars out at once (this is another reason to freeze them–the butter will solidify in the cold and the whole thing will come out without crumbling.). When they’re flat and out of the pan, I put them on a board and use a very sharp butcher knife to cut them. For the pictures (but not in real life), I rinsed and dried the knife after each cut. I hope that helps. Here’s a link to my brownies recipe which uses the same techniques. It has photos to explain things better than I can. http://www.sophistimom.com/fudgy-cream-cheese-brownies/
What else can be said but “YUM!”! These look soooo good!
These look so great- I love lemon bars,but right now limes are a lot cheaper!
[...] For the amazingly yummy recipe head here [...]
I loved this recipe!
I stumbled upon it and made sure to give you a “I like it.”
Although I tweaked this recipe a bit… A while back I was estatic to find some key limes at my local grocery store. I came right home and made a key lime pie, but I had a few key limes left over. I’ve been trying to find something I could do… I didn’t have enough key limes to make most things, (not to mention I had limited ingredients and I’m a broke college student) but I didn’t want to just waste them. Then I found this page and figured I could turn these lime bars in key limes bars.
They came out great! I also added a teaspoon of vanilla, which turned out to be a nice touch.
I also wanted to mention that this simple crust is great! I’ll be using it as a substitute for many other recipes also.
I’ve always preferred these with lime. Sour orange or even grapefruit is nice too.
[...] Belgian Raspberry Brownies from Sugar Plum 20. Lime bars from Sophistimom 21. Mango Blueberry Kanten (sort of a creamy jello, or jelly for the English!) [...]
I absolutely love lime bars. I’ve made them like 4 times now and each time they were pretty good. Yours look fantastic! I found your site through Stumbleupon and I gave it a big thumbs up.
Sophie
[...] made this right after eating all those lime bars to take me off my sugar high. It’s really easy to make. (I think I should have put a spoon [...]
Wow, they look fabulous!
I just bought a 5 pound bag of limes for super cheap and doing a search I found you wonderful recipe for lime bars! These will make a perfect 4th of july treat. thanks!
I made these last night, and they were phenomenal! My boyfriend took some to work for lunch to make everyone jealous
[...] know this seems like a bit of a cop out, seeing as last year I made those lime bars, but the name of these just makes you want one, doesn’t it? It’s like one last throw [...]
Wow – these look great! Thanks for sharing the recipe (as well as the tips on how to cut them so cleanly!)
Best –
Basiltime
Iam goig to try to make the lime bars now Iwill tell you how easy it is to make and how they taste
Bookmarking these!! I love lemon bars…never thought to do it with lime. I have key lime juice that would be fabulous in these. YUM!!
I just love your website! Your recipes are great! And lime bars are new entry on my favorite list!
[...] couple of those posts were a big hit, particularly the lime bars and s’mores bars, so I decided to do another bake sale week this [...]
[...] lime bar recipe comes courtesy of the fabulous Sophistimom, and can be found here. The recipe yielded a dessert which was intensely lime-flavored. My boyfriend is not a fan of the [...]
[...] to the tried and true. The favorites of the past two years have been the s’mores bars, the lime bars, and the raspberry lemonade bars. So, to kick off this year, I thought I’d try making a bar [...]
I love this recipe! I have been using Key limes since they were super cheap and they come out super yummy. I am scratching my head about one thing though. When they are done baking, I’ve noticed that my crust tend to be on top instead of the bottom of my bars. It seems the filling is making it’s way under the crust some how. Has anyone else had this happen? It’s an easy fix, I’m just curious.
That is really weird. I had that happen to half of mine once. Next time you make them, make sure to spread the cookie crust up about half an inch on the sides. This will keep the lime filling from seeping down underneath.
Hi!! I made these with your recipe for Thanksgiving last year, and they were a HUGE hit! I make them for all occasions now! Thank you!
Dear Jaime
how do you store these?
could i store them in the fridge?for how long?
Marcela—These will probably probably keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. But mine have never lasted that long, so that’s just a theory. Sometimes, I will wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap, and then freeze them.
I just made these and they turned out great! I had some green lemons in hand so that’s what I used in place of limes. Also cut the sugar to 1 cup and the result was still sweet and good. Thanks for the recipe!
That’s wonderful, Leon! Thanks for letting us know about the sugar. I should try it that way sometime.