I Love Cheesecake And I’m Also lazy | From Cupcakes To Caviar

Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

Which is why I don’t make cheesecake often. I love it but for some reason cheesecake is one of those things that seems far too time consuming to me. I THINK I’m going to make it… I have 972 recipes printed out for it as well as those in my vast cookbook collection… I WANT to make them because, well, I love cheesecake but there’s that lazy thing. I like things I can throw together and while I realize logically that other than the crust, you DO just throw cheesecake together, I have this weird “it’s too much trouble” mind block going.

The strangest part is that I’m so far from lazy when it comes to other parts of life, that I easily qualify as an anal bordering on OCD (waits for my husband to say “bordering?”) about getting things done. There are just certain things in cooking that I get lazy about. Yeast cooking ( I love the results, hate the time), rolled out cookies (they bored the ever living poo out of me) and cheesecake.

But… I don’t mind making cheesecake bars or cheesecake brownies. I know; totally illogical. I never claimed to be logical though… just adorable and extraordinarily intelligent *cough cough*.

So yesterday I made the Key Lime Cheesecake Bars I have been saying I would make. On my facebook fan page, I gave my readers the choice between those and mini chocolate cheesecakes. They overwhelmingly chose the Key Lime Bars so here they are. These are pretty much my recipe. They’re just an mash up of recipes I’ve seen over the years. The crust is adapted from one from Taste Of Home and the filling is just… filling; it’s what I’ve been using for years for various cheesecake bars with just the flavoring changed 😛 I hope you enjoy 🙂 If you need to buy new fat girl pants after you eat ~~a pan of~~ these, I refuse to take the blame.

Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
16 ounces softened cream cheese
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup flour
4 large eggs
3/4 cup key lime juice; bottled is fine (you can find bottled key lime juice by the lemon juice in the store)
zest from one key lime (or one small Persian lime if you aren’t using fresh key limes)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For the crust, combine the 1 1/4 cups flour, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar & walnuts in a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are finely ground and the mixture is well combined. Add in the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly.
Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 13×9 pan. Bake at 350 until light brown.
In a medium bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese and the sugar.
Add the eggs in one at a time. Beat until just combined. Don’t over beat.
Add in the cream, vanilla, flour, lime zest and lime juice, Beat JUST until combined (you never want to add too much air to cheesecake. That’s one of the things that can make it crack)
Bake at 350 degrees until it is just barely set. The point of a thin knife inserted halfway between the edge and the center should come out clean.
Combine the sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Spread over the top of the hot cheesecake and put back in the oven for five minutes.
Cool in pan set over a wire rack until completely cool. Then refrigerate until cold. Cheesecake always cuts better if cold. 🙂
Garnish with powdered sugar and fresh lime slices.
Eat lots and curse me under your breath for making your hips wider.