Raspberry Lime Bars

{Have you entered to win a KitchenAid mixer yet? I'm giving one away here!}

Our no-sugar diet only lasted two weeks. Oops. So now we're eating things like these bars again! It's not that we couldn't do it — it was actually surprisingly easy — it just felt pointless, and boring. Some of my best (and most popular) recipes come from dreaming up a sugary treat and immediately making it, and this diet was stifling my creativity! We also weren't strict enough to feel any real benefits — and weren't willing to go the rest of the way. Oh well! Now we're back to eating sugar regularly, in moderation, and with a hefty serving of vegetables.

These bars were actually the first sugary thing I made for our first cheat-day! I made them the day before, in anticipation of a sugar-filled (see: cake batter waffles) day! I've had visions of making lemon blueberry bars, essentially just adding blueberries to my zesty lemon bars, but I happened to have raspberries and limes on hand, so these bars were born!

I've probably gushed on already about how much I LOVE love love lime. Lime popsicles = unbeatable. Lime poundcake = insane. Lime DOUGHNUTS = AMAZING. Lime salad dressing = a reason to eat salad. Also, green being my favorite color, you can't deny how pretty limes are! My instagram followers agree.

Now, the one thing I'd do differently about this recipe in the future is chop the raspberries in half. I left them whole, and they were a little bit taller than the filling. It wasn't a big deal, but if you want a smoother top appearance you should roughly chop them so they can be fully covered. They'll float a little in the filling, so you'll probably see them anyways... but I thought chopping might help.

Raspberry Lime Bars

• Author: by Mary
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 35 minutes

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 12 Tbsp unsalted butter, frozen
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
• ¾ tsp salt
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp lime zest
• ¾ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup fresh raspberries, chopped in halves

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Instructions

1. Butter a 9×13 baking dish and fit with parchment paper.
2. Grate the butter with a cheese grater, and add to the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Mix together until crumbly. [Alternatively, combine ingredients in the food processor and pulse until fine].
3. Press the mixture into the prepared dish, and freeze for 30 minutes. The mixture will be very soft and powdery – not at all wet and sticky.
4. Preheat the oven to 350, and bake the chilled crust for 16-18 minutes.
5. While the crust is baking, mix together the eggs, milk, flour, sugar, zest, lime juice, and salt.
6. When the crust is done, scatter the chopped berries over the crust, pour the lime mixture over the hot crust and return to oven at 325 F. Bake until the edges are starting to brown, 18-20 minutes.
7. Cool, in the pan, on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before removing the bars from the pan. Let the bars cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar and cutting into squares.

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