This recipe came across my screen from the very nice folk at Pillsbury, and, since my husband loves him a citrus-y dessert, and the under-10 set I was going to be seeing later that week have pretty sophisticated palates for being, well, under 10, I figured that this would be a hoooge hit.
It was. With the husband, the under-10 set, and the no flour moms who gladly scraped off and ate the creamy key lime topping.
So, winner winner, right?
Well…
I will, happily make these again, but I might make a few changes – like make my own, from scratch, sugar cookies, and use real whipped cream, but, all in all, this was a tasty, pretty simple to make, and very popular treat.
INGREDIENTS
•1 pkg or roll sugar cookies, baked
•16 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed*
•2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
•3/4 cup key lime juice
•2 tbsp grated lime zest
•2 (6 oz) containers key lime yogurt
*You know what we’re talking about, here; go ahead and use the name brand, if you like.
Note: the nice folk at Pillsbury called for using a roll of their sugar cookie dough and regular lime juice from six limes or so; but I figured “Hey! If this is supposed to be ‘easy,’ why should I be bothered with cracking open a roll and separating the cookies, when I can buy a pouch like the one above and have them pre-sorted?”
Then, “why juice all those limes when I can just buy a bottle of (very good) Key Lime Juice at the market?”
Seriously, Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice is good, and their web site has a lot of interesting recipes.
So, the tedious cracking of cookie rolls and juicing of limes dealt with, I thawed that whipped topping and baked some sugar cookies (according to package instructions), which turned out all right and were no trouble at all.
Until…
I popped the cooled cooked cookies into a zipper bag, brought out my meat mallet and commenced to making cookie crumbs.
And…
Nothin.’ These cookies were not crumbling in a satisfactory way at all.
Sooo…
I brought out the big guns, my Breville food processor, and proceeded to well and truly turn the cookies into nice, fine, crumbs.
Of course, not to be too nit-picky about it all, now I had to wash the food processor bowl and bits. Not a huge deal, by any means, but one more step to this “easy” recipe.
OK. Cookies crumbled, let us get to the assembly.
Stir one cup of the whipped topping into the cookie crumbs until well combined, then press into the bottom of an ungreased glass 13×9 inch pan.
Hmmm.
So, I was pressing the mixture and things were not going well.
So, quicklikeabunny, I grabbed the waxed paper out of the pantry and arrange it over the cookie mixture in the pan.
That did the trick! The base crust was well and truly spread, more or less evenly over the bottom of the pan.
Note: I do not mean to be disparaging of this recipe, or its merit as an “easy” one. I just want to prepare folk who try it of some of the things that came up as I was putting it all together. I freely admit to having difficulty with some recipes (the tot waffle debacle comes to mind) that other folk find simple and straightfoward; and so would like to point out when I have come across issues with a recipe. I more than likely will make these again, but, as I said at the top of this post, I will more than likely make my own, very good sugar cookies, using this recipe and skipping the jam bit, and then whipping real cream.
I’ll still use the Key West Lime Juice, though.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the sweetened condensed milk together with the key lime juice until thick and nicely smooth.
See? I did not mention yet another bowl, appliance, what-have-you that now needs washing up.
Fold the remaining whipped topping and the Key Lime yogurt into the milk and juice mixture, then spoon over the cookie crust and smooth out with a spatula.
Grate the lime zest evenly over the top, cover, and stash in the fridge for at least eight hours, until it is completely set.
One of the coolest things, to me, about the nice folk at Pillsbury calling for using a glass 13 x 9 baking pan is that most of them come with a cover now, which makes covering and storage a snap.
Gotta give credit where it’s due, after all.
So.
Key Lime Pie Bars.
Really pretty popular and, for all of my kvetching, not too, too bad to toss together.
And now that I think about it…
Hmmm. Lemon Pie Bars? Orange Cream Pie Bars? Interesting…