The perfect mixture of tart and sweet, these lime bars with a zippy gingersnap crust always disappear quickly!
Lime Bars Recipe with Gingersnap Crust
When I first set out to make these lime bars, my most serious task was to develop a crust that would complement the tart lime filling. Little did I know that flavors and textures would be the least of my concerns. Rather, I was distracted by two little hands that kept creeping onto the counter to seize the cut lime halves. My 6-year old son finds it difficult to resist any sort of citrus. If there are lime, lemon, orange or grapefruit wedges in site, they are likely to be in his mouth before you can say, "Goodbye, tooth enamel."
My only chance of concentrating on the task at hand was to sit him down with a bowl of lime wedges, which he happily sucked dry. I have no explanation. Then again, this is a kid that would choose a plateful of eel sushi over Cheerios any day of the week.
With the lemon already taken out of the traditional lemon squares, I figured that a shift away from the standard cake-like or shortbread crust was in order. During the height of rhubarb season, I had great success with my Rhubarb Cheesecake Bars with Gingersnap Crust.. The chewiness of the crust stood up well to the tart, creamy cheesecake filling. Given that these lime bars have a very soft and acidic filling, it seemed likely that the pairing would work in this case, too. And did it ever!
The lime squares recipe:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a 8-inch square baking pan by lining the pan with aluminum foil, leaving 3-4 inches of foil draping over the sides of the pan.
For the crust, place 3 whole graham crackers and 12 gingersnaps, broken into 1-inch pieces, into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the crackers form fine crumbs, about 30 seconds.
To the crumbs, add unsalted butter (melted and cooled), brown sugar, all-purpose flour, and salt. Pulse until the ingredients are fully combined. Using the bottom of a measuring cup or your fingers, press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Bake until the crust is beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven.
Prepare the filling while the crust bakes so that the warm filling can be poured into a still-warm crust.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, a couple of large eggs, and the sugar. Next, whisk in some grated lime zest, fresh lime juice and a pinch of salt. Add unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, and set over medium heat. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken and it reaches 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Immediately pour the mixture through a strainer set over a medium bowl and stir in the heavy cream. Discard the lime pieces left in the strainer.
Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Pour the filling into the warm crust and bake until the filling is opaque and jiggles slightly in the center when shaken, 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure to rotate the pan halfway through baking.
Place the pan on a wire rack and let the bars cool for about 2 hours. Using the foil ends, lift the bars out of the pan, remove the foil, and cut into 16 squares. Dust with powdered (confectioner's) sugar just before serving.
Other desserts with lime:
David Lebovitz's Lime Meringue Tart
The Pioneer Woman's Key Lime Pie
Two Peas and Their Pod's Chewy Lime & Coconut Sugar Cookies
Lime Bars with Gingersnap Crust
Ingredients
The crust:
- 3 graham crackers, broken into 1-inch pieces
- 12 gingersnaps, broken into 1-inch pieces
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
The filling:
- 7 egg yolks
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- ¼ cup grated lime zest (from 4 to 5 limes)
- ⅔ cup fresh lime juice (from 4 to 5 limes)
- Pinch of salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
- 3 tablespoon heavy cream
- Powdered (confectioner's) sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare an 8-inch square baking pan by lining the pan with aluminum foil, leaving 3-4 inches of foil draping over the sides of the pan.
The crust:
- Place graham crackers and gingersnaps into the bowl of a food processor and pulse
until the crackers form fine crumbs, about 30 seconds. - To the crumbs, add butter, brown sugar, flour, and salt. Pulse until the ingredients are fully combined.
- Using the bottom of a measuring cup or your fingers, press the crumbs into the bottom
of the prepared pan. - Bake until the crust is beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
The filling:
- Prepare the filling while the crust bakes so that the warm filling can be poured into a still-warm crust.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, eggs, and sugar. Whisk in lime zest, lime juice, and salt. Add butter, and set over medium heat.
- Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken and it reaches 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.
- Immediately pour the mixture through a strainer set over a medium bowl and stir in heavy cream. Discard the lime pieces left in the strainer.
- Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
- Pour the filling into the warm crust and bake until the filling is opaque and jiggles slightly in the center when shaken, 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure to rotate the pan halfway through baking.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and let the bars cool for about 2 hours. Using the foil ends, lift the bars out of the pan, remove the foil, and cut into 16 squares. Dust with powdered (confectioner’s) sugar just before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Belinda @zomppa
Kid's got some palate. This is sooooo awesome. I love tart squares.
Elizabeth
Beautiful and tart with a spicy chewy crust? Yes please! These look fabulous.
BTW, your son is weird, and I mean that in the nicest way. Ha! I'd actually prefer that to my son who won't eat anything!
And another funny thing, I just took some pics today using sunflowers too..great minds think alike!
Becky at VintageMixer
lovely photos and I'm loving your new blog design!
Sippity Sup
I have been away and am trying desperately to play blog catch up! TWhat a bright and cheerful welcome home. GREG
Paula - bell'alimento
I'll take a dozen please ; ) Love lime & ginger! And I adore bars.
Tia
looks wonderful! great sunflowers too 🙂
Kristen
You definitely have a foodie in the making if your son likes sushi better than cheerios.
I love what you did with the lime squares. The crust sounds perfectly suited. It's all delicious!
Sara
Love the gingersnap crust! I am a huge citrusy fruity dessert fan! Love your photographs too! 🙂
Delishhh
Ok this recipe is saved on delicious. Lemon and ginger cookies - oh my, how could they not go together! Thanks!
sara @ CaffeIna
The colors in these pictures are simply amazing. Love the flavor combo.
Cookin' Canuck
Cooking Mama, Emily, Alison - Thank you!
Creative Dream, Rachel - The lime and ginger really work in this dessert. Now I'll be thinking of other ways to use the combination.
Marla - He loves his citrus any way he can get it!
Mary - I'm sorry you are having so many problems loading my site. I haven't had any other reports of this, but I will ask around and work on it if others are having the same problem.
Sue - Yes, he does. He regularly surprises us!
ravienomnoms
These just look absolutely divine, I bet those are just melt in your mouth good!
Sue
Your crust sounds fabulous! Your little son has sophisticated taste buds:)
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc.
This looks fabulous! Drooling!
Food o' del Mundo
Lime and ginger, what a perfect combination! Love the fact that your son helps out 😉
I really like your new design, I was hoping that your page would load faster, but it continues to take more than 90 seconds on my end - I don't understand it, I've got the highest speed on my internet service.
I can't believe I'm complaining about a minute and a half, HA!
marla {family fresh cooking}
I bet your little guy couldn't keep his hands off these squares! They sounds amazing....and I know what you mean about the tooth enamel. We encounter the same thing over here. Makes brushing teeth at bedtime very difficult!
Rachel (Two Healthy Plates)
I love lime desserts - lime and gingersnap sounds like a great combo! Yum!
A Creative Dream...
Yuuummmmm! Lime and ginger are one of my favorite pairings in anything! I'll be making these next weekend!
Emily Malloy
Absolutely delightful!
Cooking Mama
What pretty pictures! I LOVE sunflowers. These bars look grand. 🙂