Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!  I wanted to do a special post for the 4th but haven't had any time to make it into the kitchen!  As some of you might know, I am back in Oregon, Eugene to be exact, and am two weeks into my four week summer rotation for pharmacy school.  This is the first time in my life that I have had to work 40 hours a week and to top it off I'm not even getting paid, in fact, I actually had to pay almost $14,000 in tuition this summer just so I could work 40 hours a week.  Funny how that works but I guess it is a small price I have to pay to become a pharmacist!

Anyway, before I came back to Oregon I had a special request from my boyfriend to make him some Key Lime Cheesecake Bars.  I found this recipe last year on Sprinkle Bakes and made it a few times and everyone who tried them loved them!

Lime Curd ingredients:
8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup and 4 tbsp lime juice

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Add the eggs and yolks one at a time mixing after each addition.  Add lime juice and mix.  Cook the mixture over medium heat in a saucepan, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and reaches 170 degrees.  Remove the lime curd from the heat and let cool.  Once cooled, refrigerate for at least one hour before making the cheesecake bars so the curd can thicken more. 

Cheesecake ingredients:
8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 cup graham crackers crumbs
3/4 cup lime curd, divided
green food coloring
16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 egg white
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat over to 325.  Line a 10" square cake pan with parchment paper.  Mix melted butter and graham cracker crumbs together and press into the bottom of the pan evenly.  Bake the crust for 5 minutes and set aside to cool.

Color the lime curd with a few drops of green food coloring until it is a lime green color.  Cream together cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl.  Beat in eggs and egg white one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Mix in sour cream and vanilla, then the flour just until combined.  Remove 1 cup of the batter and set it aside.  Pour the rest of the batter that is in the bowl over the cooled crust.  Mix 1/2 cup of the colored lime curd with the 1 cup of batter that was set aside.  Dollop this mixture on top of the plain cheesecake batter.  Finally dollop the remaining 1/4 cup of lime curd across the top.  Using a toothpick, swirl the mixtures together to create a marbleized effect.  Bake for 35 minutes at 325.  Let cheesecake cool completely and then refrigerate.  When you are ready to serve, cut cheesecake into bars and serve.

The beautiful swirl pattern on the finished product!