Magically Delicious Key Lime Bars

We are still waiting on (consistently) warmer weather to arrive to Colorado. Although we had tiny snow flurries earlier today, it's not stopping us from eating up these key lime bars from Cooks Illustrated. I believe they're locked in a tie with the Salted Dark Chocolate Truffle Cookies that I discovered back in December (and will post later) for my absolute favorite dessert.

These have been a big hit with my friends previously, so we left a few out for the prospective buyers who came to see our house the other day.  In the home showing feedback, they said they loved them, so here's hoping they loved the bars enough to make an offer on the house!

I've found the easiest way to prepare these is in the food processor. You really need one to make the crust, unless you substitute graham cracker crumbs. After that, there's no reason to dirty another bowl and your electric mixer, so use it for your filling as well.

You will need:

Crust: 
5 ounces animal crackers
4 Tbsp. melted butter
3 Tbsp. brown sugar

Filling:
2 ounces room temperature fat-free cream cheese
1 Tbsp. lime zest
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup fresh key lime (or regular lime) juice...NOT bottled juice--don't bother!

Instructions:

1. Preheat to 325 and place the oven rack in the middle position. In the food processor, pulse the animal crackers to crumbs. Add the melted butter and brown sugar.

2. Line a 8 or 9 inch square pan with foil. Pull off two pieces of foil slightly longer than the pan and fold the sides to the exact width of the pan. Then lay them in a crisscross manner so that the excess forms "handles" on each side. (You'll later use this to pull your cooked treats out of the pan in one piece.)

3. Spray the foil lining the pan and pour the crumb mixture in. Use your fingers or a fork to press it into a nice packed crust.  Bake it for 18-20 minutes, then let it cool for a few minutes before adding the filling.

4. In the empty food processor, mix the cream cheese and lime zest. Use the opening on top of the processor to slowly stream in the milk, then the egg yolk, and finally, the lime juice. Be sure that as you do this, you're stopping periodically to clear the sides of the processor with a spatula.

5.  Pour the filling into the crust and smooth it out. Bake it at 325 for 15-20 minutes. The edges should begin to slightly pull away from the sides of the pan.

6. Cool them on a wire rack until they are cool enough to refrigerate.

They're intended to be served cold, but they're incredible at any temperature if you can't wait!