About the Recipe
I am a citrus, sour, tart, fruit dessert girl at heart. To me, key lime pie and warm weather go hand in hand the same way a piƱa colada and the beach does. I combined the two, to give us a coconut lime bar. Introducing the coconut naturally makes this dairy-free. I never set out to make a dairy-free dessert, it just sort of happened, which is the best of kind dairy-free, in my opinion. While I know whipped cream is more traditional for a key lime pie, if you already need egg yolks for the custard, you might as well make a meringue with some of the egg whites, limiting waste. Look at us being resourceful! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this dessert as much as I enjoyed making it.
Ingredients
Crust:
9 graham crackers
1/2C coconut, desiccated or shredded, unsweetened
1/2C coconut oil, melted
2Tbsp sugar
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Filling:
5 egg yolks*
2ea 7.4oz cans sweetened condensed coconut milk
3Tbsp lime zest
1/2C lime juice
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Meringue:
3 egg whites*
3/4C sugar
2Tbsp lime juice
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*When separating your eggs, be sure to set 3 egg whites aside for the topping.
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Preparation
1: Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2: Grease and parchment line an 8x8 baking dish.
3: Ā Add graham crackers to a food processer and pulse a couple of times to break them up and blend until crumbs. Next, add in desiccated coconut, coconut oil, and sugar. Blend until just combined. It should hold together when pressed in your hand.
4: Press crust mixture into a Ā greased 8x8 pan, using your hand or the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake crust for 15 minutes, just until golden. Allow it to cool completely.
5: For the filling: Ā In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sweetened condensed coconut milk. Sometimes it comes as a smooth mixture and other times the oil has separated in the can. Depending on which one you get, try to whisk together as smoothly as possible. Then add in lime zest and juice and combine.
6: Pour filling over cooled crust and bake for 25-30 minutes. The edges will be completely set, and the center jiggles a tiny bit.
7: Allow bars to cool completely in the refrigerator for a couple of hours minimum. You might have to run a knife around the edges of the pan to get them out.
8: For the toasted meringue topping: In a heat proof bowl, whisk together egg whites, sugar, and lime juice. Take this bowl and place it over a pot of simmering hot water as a double boiler. You donāt want the bottom of the bowl to touch the water. Continuously whisking this mixture until youāve reached 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Take this mixture and put in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-high until firm peaks form, this will take about 15 minutes.
9: Add meringue on top of the cooled bars and torch the meringue Ā with a Ā blow torch. You can enjoy it without toasting if you donāt have a blow torch. Store bars in the refrigerator. Enjoy!