Key Lime Pie Bars

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The silkiest, creamiest, and easiest Key Lime Pie Bars…with a super simple graham cracker crust and homemade meringue topping! These delicious bars are just like the classic pie, but made into super easy to make (and easy to eat!) bars. Every bite is sweet, tangy, creamy, and just SO. GOOD. The crust is made with only 3 super simple pantry staple ingredients! Oh, and to make it better? The filling is made with only egg yolks, condensed milk, and lime juice, and our secret ingredient…lime zest! After baking, the bars are finally finished with the silkiest Italian meringue. It simply doesn’t get better than this! It’s perfectly sweet, citrus-y, creamy, and ideal for summertime baking.

About The Recipe

Happy Monday!

We’re back with another bar recipe, but this time…key lime pie! We’re just now finally getting some key limes in our local grocery store, and I couldn’t have been more excited. We made Mini Key Lime Pies a while back, and you all were asking for more!

So…here we are! We’ve known for a while we wanted to make key lime pie bars for the blog, as my brother adores all things citrus, but especially key lime pie! It’s one of his must-have desserts when he sees it on a menu somewhere.

When we were test baking these cuties, my brother pretty much never left the kitchen. He was just hanging about, finding every excuse he could to stay until they came out of the oven. We felt bad telling him they needed to refrigerate for a few hours to set!

But, once they were done, we all tried a bite. Well, my brother ate a whole one in, essentially, one bite. They were delicious, but a tad bit underbaked. Which, resulted in a really funny and kinda gross mess after we forgot about them and left them on the counter.

When we came back, we had a pool of melted key lime pie. In the bars defense, it is quite literally over 100 degrees every day.

On our final bake, we decided to elevate these bars in the best way possible. Instead of the traditional Chantilly Cream, we topped them with a super simple Italian Meringue! It’s a lighter, fluffier, and silkier texture than the Chantilly cream and just…ohmygosh.

Once you pile all the meringue on top, every bite becomes totally irresistible! It’s like the best textures and flavors allllll in once place.

Honestly, these key lime bars cannot be beat! Truly the best summertime bake.

Reasons You Will Love These Key Lime Pie Bars

• They’re SUPER simple to make.
• Each component for this recipe only has 3 – 4 ingredients.
• Bake times are minimal.
• Needs to be refrigerated.
• Super citrusy and not too sweet.
• Perfect for summer.

Equipment Needed

• Mixing Bowls
• Rubber Spatula
• 8 Inch Square Pan
• Parchment Paper
• Whisk
• Stand Mixer
• Small Pot
• Candy Thermometer

Ingredients

(Full ingredient amounts and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post)

For The Crust:

• Graham Cracker Crumbs – are the classic flavor for this crust.
• Granulated Sugar – adds just a bit of sweetness.
• Melted Butter – holds everything together.

For The Filling:

• Egg Yolks – are the magic ingredient to thicken this filling.
• Sweetened Condensed Milk – provides a sweet creaminess with much less moisture than whole milk.
• Lime Juice – is the key flavoring for this pie.
• Lime Zest – adds a boost of lime flavor to this filling.

For The Meringue:

• Egg Whites – provide the lift and structure for meringue.
• Granulated Sugar – when combined with water and cooked into a syrup, not only stabilizes the meringue, it makes it safe to eat without cooking.
• Water – is the liquid element essential in making the sugar syrup.

How To Make Key Lime Pie Bars

Key Lime Pie Bars Troubleshooting

Why is my crust greasy? This is caused by too much butter being added to the graham crackers. We found that 6 Tablespoons of butter tends to be the perfect amount for the 1 3/4 of graham cracker crumbs. If more is added, it can become greasy. It can also become greasy if it’s left out too long before baking!

My filling isn’t completely set up after refrigerating! This happened to us, too! It’s due to underbaking. Each oven bakes differently. We found that 15-20 minutes sets our pie just right, but yours may need 5 minutes or so longer. You can give it a little jiggle in the oven to see if it’s done. If there’s still a lot of jiggle, it probably needs about 5 minutes longer. If it’s mostly set, only a tiny bit of jiggle in the middle, then it’s ready to take out!

Why are there so many bubbles on the top of my bars? This is caused by mixing the filling. It’s just air bubbles. It’s not a huge deal, especially since the bars are going to be covered in meringue!

How To Store

Once these bars are made, they need to be kept in the refrigerator! They should keep about 3-4 days in an airtight container.

Substitutions

• If you don’t have key limes, you can use regular limes!
• 1 3/4 cups of graham crackers is about 1 1/2 packs of graham crackers crushed.
• For something easier, you can use Chantilly cream as the topping.

Looking for more recipes like this? Here are a few you may like: Mini Key Lime Pies, No-Fail Lemon Bars, Lemon Meringue Pie, Slice and Bake Key Lime Cookies

Expert Tips

• When lining the pan with parchment paper, make sure that you leave enough on the sides to have “handles”! This will make it super easy to lift out the bars.
• 3 1/2 cups of sweetened condensed milk is equal to 2 cans.
• If crushing your own graham crackers, make sure there are no large chunks!
• Once you mix up the crust, be sure to work quickly! It can dry out and become difficult to work with/not bake right if left out too long.
• A tart tamper or small measuring cup will greatly help when pressing down the crust!
• Make sure the filling is well mixed before adding it to the crust.
• The egg whites for the meringue need to be whipped to about medium peaks. Turn off the mixer and make your syrup. Once the syrup is at temperature, turn the mixer on high and slowly stream the syrup in.
• Do NOT stir the syrup once the sugar is dissolved.
• Also, keep a bowl of water and pastry brush nearby. You will need to brush the sides of the pan down to keep the sugar from crystalizing.
• Beat the meringue until it’s completely cool. This takes about 5-10 minutes. You can feel the temperature of your mixing bowl to gage if the meringue is cool.
• To get super clean cuts, be sure to clean the knife after each cut!
• We chose the leave the meringue un-toasted, but if desired, you can lightly toast it with a kitchen torch.

When you make these Key Lime Pie Bars, leave a comment down below! We love hearing from you and answering any questions you might have! Also, be sure to tag us on social media and hashtag it #BakersTable.

– Still Hungry? –

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