Recipe Maverick

It's been almost a year since I posted, and I guess all I can say is I got distracted by life. Over the past year, I graduated college, stopped working at the dining hall, and figured out that I still don't know what to do for a living. This summer reminds me so much of last summer that I can hardly believe a year has really gone by. The thing is, it's not like last summer at all, because everything's about to change. In about a month, when my lease is up, I'll be leaving Davis and moving back to Berkeley to live with my parents. Right now, I'm trying to enjoy my last month in Davis and think of ways to stay connected to all the people I've met here. 
 
Anyway, I recently came into possession of some limes and decided it was time to revive this blog with some lime bars. They came out just the way I like my lemon bars: with a buttery crust and a gooey filling topped by a thin crispy shell dusted with powdered sugar. The difference is that they have a greenish tint and that indescribably lime-y taste that pops up in everything from pies to pad thai. The recipe is adapted from Ina Garten's recipe for lemon bars.

Ingredients:
*makes one 8x8 pan

crust:
1+1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (from 1 sleeve of graham crackers)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup melted butter

filling:
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup lime juice (from 2 grocery store limes)
2 tsp lime zest
powdered sugar for dusting
 
Crush graham crackers in a food processor, or if you haven't got a food processor (heh), put them in an unsealed ziplock bag and crush them with your bare hands. Add sugars, flour, and melted butter. Mix well, until the crumbs clump together readily. Press the dough into the bottom and around the sides of a greased 8x8 pan to form a crust. Chill for 20 minutes in the fridge, while preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Then bake the crust for 10-15 minutes until it is set but not browned.

While the crust is in the oven, mix eggs, sugar, flour, lime juice and zest in a medium bowl until the batter has a smooth consistency. Pour the batter into the prebaked crust, and return to the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until the filling is set and has begun to brown slightly. Allow the bars to cool, then sift powdered sugar over them and cut them into squares.