Key Lime Cheesecake Bars
Key Lime Cheesecake Bars are creamy, low sugar and taste just like your favorite key lime pie cheesecake! Made with greek yogurt, fresh key limes and cream cheese, these Key Lime Cheesecake Bars are the perfect easy summer desserts.
I have a confession to make… I haven’t always been a fan of key lime pie. I am really more of a chocolate girl so taking that hard right over to key lime pie has always been a bit of a challenge for me. That is, until I made these Key Lime Cheesecake Bars. Super easy to make, great key lime pie flavor without being too overbearing and a key lime cheesecake bar recipe without all of the cheesecake making time and trouble. The best part? These Key Lime Cheesecake Bars are completely customizable in that the recipe below is a low sugar dessert recipe but these key lime bars can be made using regular sugar, the Splenda Sugar Baking Blend or just using Splenda as the recipe indicates.
Let’s be honest, a lot of us are trying to eat better and add a few healthier meals in our week. Like it or not, taking care of ourselves might not always be easy but living a healthier lifestyle has more benefits than not. But sometimes those healthy meal choices that might be better for us but taste so horrible that you would just rather go without. At least, that’s how I feel about a lot of the sugar free desserts. It’s really hard to take an amazing dessert and then take everything that makes it amazing OUT and then somehow still expect it to be .. um .. amazing! That’s why these Key Lime Cheesecake Bars are so awesome .. you can make them however your diet dictates and how you will enjoy them most.
WHAT ARE KEY LIMES?
Key Limes are smaller than your usual limes and have more seeds in them. They also are more aromatic and contain more acidity. As they ripen, they turn yellow instead of dark green like Persian limes and their juice turns sweeter as it loses it’s acidity.
CAN YOU SUBSTITUTE LIME FOR KEY LIME?
Key limes can sometimes be hard to find. If you can’t key limes, you can substitute a combination of regular fresh lime juice and fresh lemon juice in equal proportions to make up the amount of key lime juice your recipe is calling for.
MODIFICATIONS, IF YOU PLEASE …
- Looking for a delicious low sugar key lime dessert? Here you go!
- Want to serve up a traditional key lime pie dessert without cutting back, go full throttle and use regular white sugar.
- Trying to be good but still can’t resist tasty summer desserts? Pftt… grab that bag of half Splenda / half sugar and serve up a yummy dessert with only half the guilt.
- Want to make these even more keto friendly? Substitute the graham crackers with 2 cups of ground up walnuts that you pulverized in your food processor.
HOW DO YOU MAKE KEY LIME CHEESECAKE BARS?
Easy! To make these Key Lime Cheesecake Bars, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place a large pan of water on the bottom rack of your oven. Then start with the crust. Mix graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup Splenda and melted butter together in a large mixing bowl. Grab a 9 x 9 pan and line it with parchment paper and then pour your graham cracker crumb mixture into your pan and using your hands or the back of a spatula, press the crumbs together fimly in an even layer and up the sides to form your crust. Set aside. Add the cream chese to a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat until creamy. Add in the Spenda and mix to combine.
Next, add in the key lime greek yogurt, key lime juice and zest, vanilla, cornstarch and salt. Mix to combine well and then pour your filling on top of your prepared crust and smooth out until even. Bake for 25 minutes and after the 25 minutes, turn your oven off and open the door. Do not remove the Key Lime Cheesecake Bars but let them sit in the open oven for at least an hour before moving them to the refrigerator. Let them chill overnight and then cut into squares and serve.
PRO TIPS FOR MAKING KEY LIME CHEESECAKE BARS
- Key limes have more seeds than your regular limes and those seeds are little. When you squeeze out the lime juice, squeeze the juice into a separate small bowl first so that if any seeds find their way into your juice, you are aren’t having to dig them out of your batter.
- Using a hand held juice press helps considerably and is a small investment for time saved in the kitchen.
- If you are looking to substitute the Spenda with regular sugar or the half and half blend, follow the instructions as is and substitute your replacement in equal amounts as the recipe calls for. 1/2 cup Spenda = 1/2 cup sugar.
Looking for more easy desserts? Check out a few of my favorites below…
- No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
- Seven Layer Pudding Dessert
- Homemade Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Homemade Reese’s Bars
Enjoy!
KEY LIME CHEESECAKE BARS
Key Lime Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cup splenda
- 6 tablespoons butter
Key Lime Filling
- 16 ounces cream cheese .. softened
- 1 cup key lime greek yogurt .. 2 pkgs Dannon Light & Fit
- 6 key limes ... juice and zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup splenda
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- extra limes for garnish
Instructions
- To make these Key Lime Cheesecake Bars, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place a large pan of water on the bottom rack of your oven.
- Start with the crust. Mix graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup Splenda and melted butter together in a large mixing bowl. Grab a 9 x 9 pan and line it with parchment paper and then pour your graham cracker crumb mixture into your pan and using your hands or the back of a spatula, press the crumbs together fimly in an even layer and up the sides to form your crust. Set aside.
- Add the cream chese to a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat until creamy. Add in the Spenda and mix to combine. Next, add in the key lime greek yogurt, key lime juice and zest, vanilla, cornstarch and salt. Mix to combine well and then pour your filling on top of your prepared crust and smooth out until even.
- Bake for 25 minutes and after the 25 minutes, turn your oven off and open the door. Do not remove the Key Lime Cheesecake Bars but let them sit in the open oven for at least an hour before moving them to the refrigerator. Let them chill overnight and then cut into squares and serve. Refrigerate leftovers in air-tight container
Notes
- If you are unable to find Key Lime greek yogurt, using plain is fine.
- You can substitute the graham cracker crumbs with walnuts pulverized in a food processor.
- You can substitue the Splenda with regular sugar if you do not wish to make this low-sugar or you can also use the Spenda/Sugar mix found in the baking aisle of your grocery store.
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