Tuesday Treats - Lime Bars

We visited some friends on Friday night for a house-warming party, and as usual, I can't show up empty-handed. I made some chocolate-covered strawberries since we had some chocolate left over from our Christmas baking. 

And, we've been eating as light as possible so I made some angel food cupcakes as a no-fat alternative. The plan was to top them with fat-free cool whip (tinted pink) and some strawberry slices, but I didn't plan ahead enough and let the cool whip get too soft so they weren't quite presentable and were left at home. 

But, the real tasty treat was the lime bars that Daniel made. We've made them before, and they were just as tasty as I remember. They are actually from a lemon bar recipe in the Pampered Chef It's Good For You cookbook, but we like to mix it up with lime instead of lemon.

Crust

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup 70% vegetable oil spread

Filling

3 limes

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 egg whites

2 T. flour

1/4 t. salt

2 t. powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray square pan with nonstick cooking spray (I prefer the baking spray). Combine flour and powdered sugar in bowl, add vegetable oil spread, and then mix together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press crumb mixture into bottom of pan and bake 17 minutes.

2. Zest the limes to make 2 t. zest. Juice the limes to make 1/2 lime juice. Combine zest, juice, sugar and whisk in bowl. Add eggs, egg whites, flour, salt and whisk until blended.

3. Spread filling evenly over cooled crust. Bake 20 minutes or until set. Cool completely and then sprinkle (or cover) with powdered sugar. Cut into bars and serve!

16 Bars: Calories per bar = 170 (This recipe is low-cal and low cholesterol.)