Healthilicious: Cool Key Lime Bars

In April, A and I spent 5 days in Ohio celebrating the marriage of some really great friends. It was a small, low-key type wedding, but it was so much fun!

I need to take a minute to tell you how delicious their cake tasted. It was 3 layers- each a different flavor. The bottom was white-chocolate mousse, the middle was chocolate dipped strawberries, and the top was key lime. A and I each picked a different flavor, that way we could try 2 different flavors- smart, I know. But not really. I wish I would have kept my entire piece of key lime- it was a-maz-ing. Like, I want to stuff it in my coat pocket and take it all home kind of amazing. 

Ever since, I've been craving some sort of key lime pie inspired dessert. These aren't traditional key lime pie bars, but I took inspiration from my favorite recipes and healthified them. I know "healthified" isn't a word, but maybe it should be. I digress... 

If you've been reading the blog, you'll know I'm a big advocate for "real food". I use the 80/20 rule: 80% of what my family eats is "real food" and 20% is considered an indulgence. This particular recipe falls in the 20% category only because I used pre-packaged graham crackers. I had every intention to make my own, but our local grocery stores don't carry graham flour. I'll be on a hunt for it in the future, though. :)

I started off by making raspberry sauce. Although, I don't have any pictures of it. My bad.

Then I cut and squeezed some key limes. I don't recommend this method, as it took me about 12 limes and way too much time. But, it's all in the name of "real food", so I guess I should be promoting this. Umm, if you have an afternoon to yourself and have nothing else to do, use fresh key limes. If you're in a time crunch, use the bottled stuff. I won't judge, I promise. 

I crushed the graham crackers old-school style (rolling pin and ziploc) since my food processor is broken. I mixed the crumbs with melted butter and pressed into the bottom of a glass dish, and baked for 8 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

Then I mixed some greek yogurt, pure sugar, and the lime juice together. Yum- it's magic.  

I hurried to spread the yogurt mixture on top of the graham cracker crust. 

I may or may not have licked the bowl clean.

Then I dolloped some raspberry sauce over the top of the yogurt. Why raspberry sauce? Well, I once had a key lime pie that was drizzled in raspberry sauce. It was out of this world.

I used a toothpick to swirl it around. Then I licked the spoon. Do you see a pattern? 

My swirling is less than impressive- just keepin' it real, people. 

 I stuck it in the freezer until it was a soft-serve consistency and dished it up for myself and A. Then I stuck it back in the freezer and thawed it out the next day. 

It took a little over an hour for it to thaw to my liking. I don't recommend eating this completely frozen- it doesn't taste that great. But half-frozen, SO good. 

Cool Key Lime Bars

Raspberry Sauce

Crust

1 1/2 C. graham cracker crumbs (approximately 10 "sheets" of graham crackers)

1 stick butter, melted
[You could easily make this Gluten-Free by using S'moreables in place of regular graham crackers!]

Filling

2 C. plain greek yogurt

3 tbsp. pure sugar

3 tbsp. key lime juice (you can sub regular lime juice. Also, this really packs a punch, so if you want a more subtle taste, maybe go for 2 tbsp.)

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Prepare the raspberry sauce. It's important to do this first to allow time to cool.

3. Melt butter and combine with graham cracker crumbs. Press crumb mixture into 8x8 pan and bake for 8 minutes at 375 degrees. Allow to cool. Stick it in the freezer for faster cooling.

4. Mix together greek yogurt, sugar, and key lime juice.

5. Pour yogurt mixture over graham cracker crust and spread evenly.

6. Add dollops of raspberry sauce on top of yogurt mixture. Use a knife to swirl the sauce throughout the entire yogurt mix. Be careful not to pull up the graham cracker crumbs. But if you do, it's no biggie.

7. Cover with foil (or if lid, if your pan has one) and stick it in the freezer until the yogurt is a soft-serve like consistency. You can also freeze this and thaw it out when you're ready to serve. I'd give it about 30-45 minutes to thaw- depending on how warm it is in your home.

8. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to one week.