The name says it all. These lime bars make for an indulgent treat, with the fresh lime juice and zest beautifully complementing the creamy texture and crumbly base.
I’ve shamelessly adapted this recipe from Minimalist Baker’s recipe, with a couple of modifications. The original recipe called for cashews to help make a creamy filling (along with coconut cream). Cashews are a fantastic option for creamy, dairy-free textures – but they’re expensive.
However, there’s an alternative to cashews that pretty much does the same job. It has a slightly different flavour profile, but that’s easily disguised with other ingredients with strong flavours. Enter the humble sunflower seed. I use them in the exact same way as you’d use cashews: soak in hot water and blend. My Sunflower Mac (a variation on popular cashew-based mac & cheese recipes) uses the same trick, as does my Sunflower Chèvre (a vegan version of goat’s cheese).
You’ll need a food processor or high-speed blender for this recipe, to get the mixture really nice and creamy. Use fresh limes for the juice – preferably organic, since you’ll be using the zest, too.
Make these lime bars the next time you want to impress your sweet-tooth friends. I bet even your gran will be super impressed!
Creamy Vegan Lime Bars
Equipment
- Food processor
- Blender
- Oven
Ingredients
For the base
- 120 g dates
- 1 cup oats
- 1 cup almonds
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup coconut oil (melted)
For the filling
- 1 cup sunflower seeds (soaked in hot water)
- 1 cup coconut cream
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 tbsp arrowroot starch (or cornstarch)
- ½ cup lime juice (from fresh limes if possible)
- 1 tbsp lime zest
- 1 pinch salt
Directions
- Soak the sunflower seeds in hot water for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line a 20 cm square baking dish with baking paper.
- Add the dates, oats, almonds and salt to the food processor and process until you've got a grainy flour. Add the melted coconut oil, and pulse until you've got a bit of a dough going on. Pinch some of it between two fingers: it should stick. If it's too dry, add a little more melted coconut oil.
- Transfer the mixture to the lined baking dish, then spread it out and pat it down firmly and evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until it's changed colour a bit. Remove and cool, while you prepare the filling.
- Drain the sunflower seeds, and place in the blender along with the rest of the filling ingredients (coconut cream, sugar, arrowroot starch, lime juice and zest, and salt). Blend for a couple of minutes until nice and creamy.
- Pour onto the prebaked crust in the baking dish, and tap the dish lightly on the counter to distribute evenly and get any air bubbles out.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until the edges are pulling away very slightly.
- Remove from the oven, and cool to room temperature before transferring to the fridge, to cool for a couple of hours, before serving.