These healthy key lime pie bars are sweet, creamy, and perfect for any party or gathering!
70 calories
7 ingredients
NO eggs, dairy, or gluten required
I made these for the birthday party of one of my best friends – I’ve written about him before.
The best part about these key lime pie bars is how light & creamy they are. Or maybe it’s how portable they are. Or how easy they are to make.
To make the bars, simply blend all ingredients and smooth the mixture into an 8×8 pan. Bake, let cool, and refrigerate overnight.
Slice into bars, and they are ready to go!
The recipe yields 9-16 bars, depending on how big you cut them. I cut the bars into 16, but the photo only shows 9 because I didn’t want to crowd the picture. Also, I may have eaten a few before the photoshoot.
Couldn’t be helped.
Technically, the bars are only truly key lime pie squares if you use key limes, but as long as you don’t care about being textbook-definition correct, any limes will work perfectly well in this recipe.
If you make them, please feel free to mention @ChocolateCoveredKatie on Instagram so I can see your creations!
Creamy Key Lime Pie Bars
Adapted from my Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Creamy Key Lime Pie Bars
Print This Recipe
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Ingredients
- 12 oz cream cheese, such as TJ's nondairy (Click for a cream-cheese-free version)
- 1 cup plain yogurt of choice, such as vegan coconut yogurt
- 1 tbsp lime zest, about 2 small limes’ worth
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 tbsp lime juice
- 1/4 cup sugar or maple syrup, honey, or xylitol for sugar-free
- pinch uncut stevia OR 1 additional tbsp sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot
Instructions
*For a crust, you can either use 10 full graham cracker sheets processed into crumbs with 1-2 tbsp oil or buttery spread, or use your favorite crust, or opt to keep them crustless.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Fill a large baking pan about halfway with water and place it on the oven’s lower rack. Line an 8-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Bring cream cheese to room temperature. Beat all ingredients in a blender or food processor just until smooth – Don’t overbeat, which would introduce air bubbles that could burst and later cause cracking. Smooth batter into pan, and place on the oven’s middle rack (the rack above the one with the water pan). Bake 25 minutes, then don’t open the oven but turn the heat off and let sit in the closed oven an additional 8 minutes – this helps the bars cool down slowly so they’re less likely to crack. Take out the still-undercooked bars. Let cool at room temp 1 hour (this also helps them cool gradually), then cover and refrigerate overnight, during which time they’ll firm up. Slice into bars, wiping the knife between each cut. Store leftovers in the fridge, or they can be frozen.
Link Of The Day:
Melissa says
Yum, these look so incredible and I love how simple they are to make!
Kelsey @ So Much Life says
So cute! I’ve got say, even regardless of the taste, I would make these because they’re adorable! They’re the most instagram-worthy dessert for summertime 😉
Julie Dove says
I so agree :). As nice as brownies or chocolate chip cookies are, they just aren’t as pretty without the vibrant green or cute lime circles.
Mary Jane says
I made a recipe just like this years ago (I used key lime flavored yogurt for an extra kick though). Glad to see you have one of your own! Key lime pie and coconut cream pies are my favorite (I prefer the vegan coconut pie to the evil eggs one), glad I have a third recipe for my favorite pie now!
Izzy | pinch of delight says
Wow these look so yummy – I love how bright the lime is on top! x
Izzy |http://www.pinchofdelight.com
Sara @ Last Night's Feast says
Katie, these look delicious!
Val says
I think I would have eaten these before taking the photos too, haha. They look lovely! Val x
LIght4theLord says
Ohmygoodness! Those look absolutely A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. But the only problem is… I’m a horrible cook. Hey Katie, why don’t you just open a shop?! That way I can satisfy my sweet tooth from all these pictures without having to actually make them! 😀
Angie says
Do you think Greek cream cheese would work?
Johanne says
Mmmm silky and cool and just in time for St. Patrick’s day! Wonderful.
Johanne says
Just the thing to bring to a St. Patricks day party!
Heather says
Hi Katie! I recently made your chocolate pie (the one with silken tofu), and it was not only incredibly delicious, but it also felt really healthy, and I love how full it made me feel. Question: Could I replace the cream cheese with silken tofu in this recipe, or would using tofu leave a weird aftertaste? P.S. Your recipes are amazing!
Julie Dove says
Try the key lime pie in her cookbook if you have it (or go to a library if you don’t want to buy it) because there is a key lime pie that can be cooked in a square pan for bars and it uses tofu.
Heather says
Thank you! I will have to check that out!
Rebecca Pauli says
does anyone know if her WW points have been updated to new smartpoints?
Julie Dove says
Yes, that is why it says “smartpoints” 🙂
The older ones will still say PointsPlus on the nutrition page.
Tarren says
I love these. Great idea for a St Pat’s party, a Spring lunch dessert, or just a “spoil me” reason.
Deano says
These look so vibrant and yummy! Seems a nice, simple recipe – I’ll have to give these a try. Thanks for sharing.
Amy says
Are the nutrition facts with or without a crust
Lindsey says
I don’t see how these can be called “Key lime” when they’re made with limes. As a native (and 5th generation) Floridian, I’m always amazed how people can make and advertise “key lime” when there’s not a bit of key lime in it. There is a difference between a lime and a key lime. I’ve sat and squeezed a bag of key limes to get the juice to make my key lime pie. If it’s going to be made with limes, it should simply be called “Lime Pie” or “Lime Bars” or “Lime Bites.” Definitely looks like a delicious recipe but I would change the name.
dana says
If you actually read the post, I think you will probably feel really silly for commenting without having read the post.
dana says
I made these, but with lemon juice and lemon slices because I adore anything lemon flavored. They were really really excellent. I’ll definitely make them again and might do half lemon half lime to make them even prettier for presentation.
Mindy says
These are so yummy! I just used a spring form pan and turned it into a very thin cheesecake. And my grocery store didn’t carry key limes, so I just used regular. So refreshing and light.
love pie says
aww, I love the lime
Happy Pi Day 🙂
Therefore i eight sum pi. I ate some pie…and it was delicious!
get the tees here:
https://teespring.com/i-ate_some_pie
MichelleS says
In your recipe, you link to a cream cheese-free version (which is your Creamy Lemon Bars)…what part of that recipe do you use for the cream cheese in this recipe? Do I add the coconut oil, lemon, maple syrup, etc. like the Lemon Bars recipe calls for? I’ve reread both pages a couple times, and for some reason I just can’t figure it out 🙂 Hopefully you understand what I’m trying to say. Thanks!!
Jason Sanford says
You do the exact recipe for lemon bars, just subbing lime for all the lemon.