The Best Key Lime Bars | Cooks Illustrated

Before I became a Cooks Illustrated lover, Jeff from C for Cooking let me borrow a few of his issues so that I could get a feel for the magazine and how the recipes were written and illustrated. When handing me the July/August 2006 issue he looked me dead in the eye and said "you must make the key lime bars in this issue." The problem was he gave me the issue during the cold wet winter, and the last thing I wanted to make was key lime anything, I wanted warm ooey gooey desserts to take the chill out of the air, so I ended looking at the recipe for about four months. Well, Friday the big ol' hot and humid summer reared its head in the northeast, delivering warm sun, humid air and a big thunderstorm to boot. The time had come for key lime squares.

When shopping at Haymarket on Friday in the blazing ninety degree heat, I noticed that all the vendors were selling limes 10 for $1. Sometimes serendipity stares you in the face doesn't it. I loaded up my bag with limes and headed home to try the recipe.

Seriously, make this recipe. We had friends over for dinner and I served this for dessert. My friend RD had multiple servings and kept raving about it as he was eating it. The recipe makes quite a bit, but it can be doubled, just up the cooking time about two minutes.

Recipe:
Crust:
5 ounces animal crackers (about 1 1/4 C crumbs)
3 tbs light or dark brown sugar packed
pinch salt
4 tbsp butter melted and cooled slightly

Filling:
2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 tbsp grated lime zest
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg yolk
1/2 C key lime juice or regular juice (do not use bottled juice)

Garnish (optional)
3/4 C shredded coconut toasted until crisp

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut about 12-inch length extra-wide heavy duty foil; fold cut edges back to form 7 1/2-inch width. With folded sides facing down, fit foil securely into bottom and up sides of 8-inch square baking pan, allowing excess to overhang pan sides. Spray foil with non-stick cooking spray.

2. To Make Crust. In workbowl of food processor, pulse animal crackers until broken down, about ten 1-second pulses; process crumbs until evenly fine, about 10 seconds. Add brown sugar and salt; process to combine, ten to twelve 1-second pulses. Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened with butter, about ten 1-second pulses. Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake until deep golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling. Do not turn off oven.

3. To Make Filling: While crust cools, in medium bowl, stir cream cheese, zest and salt with rubber spatula until softened, creamy and thoroughly combined. Add sweetened condensed milk and whisk vigorously until incorporated and no lumps of cream cheese remain; whisk in egg yolk. Add lime juice and whisk gently until incorporated (mixture will thicken slightly).

4. To Assemble and Bake: Pour filling into crust; spread to corners and smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until set and edges begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled at least 2 hours.

5. Loosen edges with pairing knife and lift bars from baking pan using foil extensions; cut bars into 16 squares. Sprinkle with toasted coconut if using, and serve. (Leftovers can be refrigerated up to two days; crust will soften slightly. Let stand at room temperature, about 15 minutes before serving.)

Rating = So God Damn Good