Lemon bars get all the shine, how does it come out with lime?

Time: 3 hours

Difficulty: 2/5

Ingredient Availability: 5/5

This was one of the first recipes I tried when I started using the Dessert Person cookbook. I thought it would be interesting to try a lime bar instead of the typical lemon bar. As you can probably predict, I liked it so here I am giving it another try and a more in depth analysis. In the middle of summer, this should also be a pretty nice and refreshing dessert.

Key Ingredients and Omissions:

I don’t think anything in this recipe is particularly special, but I do think just about everything is needed for it to come out how it’s supposed to. You could, perhaps, leave out the mint and have just regular lime bars. Nothing was left out.

Tools:

• Rasp Style grater

• Whisk

Cooking Review:

Prep: 20 minutes

The prep for this recipe included zesting a lime and juicing the limes and a lemon. I then cut up the butter into cubes and put them in the refrigerator. The mint was chopped in this step and I also prepared the pan with foil and butter.

Shortbread crust: 50 minutes

To make the crust, I mixed the lime zest into the sugar before adding flour, mint, baking powder, and salt. The cubes of butter were then added and pressed into the flour until a the mixture was moist and crumbly. After pressing the dough into the pan in as even of a layer as I could manage, I baked it for 48 minutes before letting it cool.

Lime curd: 25 minutes

I combined the lemon and lime juice, salt, cornstarch, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar was completely dissolved. Once it had reached a boil, the mixture was constantly whisked until thickened, then removed from the heat. The egg yolks and egg were whisked together along with the remaining sugar before the lime juice mixture was slowly streamed into them (about half of the mixture). Once the eggs had been tempered, the mixture was then poured back into the sauce pan and whisked together over low heat until opaque and thickened. The butter was then added into the curd piece by piece until completely melted.

Baking: 1 hour 7 minutes

I poured the curd over the crust and baked until I felt it was set and no longer liquid. I definitely overcooked it this time, as it is hard to tell when it’s just wobbly and not liquid any more. In any case, the biggest downside of overcooking it was the appearance. The bars were cooled in the refrigerator overnight before tasting.

Analysis:

The first thing you’ll notice in these bars is the intense lime flavor, which is obviously a good thing. They are very tangy and will likely make you pucker your lips. The sweetness does a pretty good job of balancing the sourness of the limes and lemon. The crust held up very well, not becoming soggy after multiple nights in the refrigerator. It also just tastes good, reminding me a little of a buttery graham cracker crust. As I mentioned earlier, the fact that I overcooked it didn’t negatively impact the flavor noticeably, so it’s a pretty forgiving recipe in that aspect. I would just say don’t overcook the curd in the saucepan, which will probably cause it to break. Overall, I’ll give this recipe a 9/10. I just think the level of sourness and tang may be a little too much for some people (even me at times).