I typically think of myself as a level headed person who has everything together. Until one day my mom turned to me and said “I don’t know what’s happening to you.” Huh? She then proceeded to mentioned a fairly substantial list of times within a few days where I had forgotten an ingredient, or a step, or part of a meal. This includes but is not limited too: forgetting to add garlic, Tabasco, adding too much sugar and too much salt, and green onions.
Everyone forgets stuff every now and then. The worse part: I have been leaving ingredients out on the counter top from the very beginning of cooking in order to prevent forgetting. And I still forget it anyway (green onions on my pizza).
So what does my scatter brain have to do with these dessert bars? Well, they are supposed to be Lemon Butter Crunch Cheese Bars. See the lime in the title? When making these, I reached in the fridge to add the lemon juice, grabbed the green bottle, yellow lid from the top shelf. I measured the amount and added to the batter. Then, as I put the bottle back in the fridge, I see the word lime.
It didn’t matter anyway- I loved these, especially for a “light” dessert. I may have eaten three servings straight from the baking dish. The bars taste like cheesecake topping without using any cream cheese. The lime gives a subtle, refreshing citrus taste. If I were to make these again (which I will), I would add more brown sugar to the crust because I prefer a sweeter crust. This recipe would work with lime, lemon, or orange bases too.
For the Crust:
1/3 cup salted butter, softened
1/4 cup+ packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup all purpose flour
Cooking spray
For the Cheese Filling:
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon lime zest
3 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg white, room temperature
Preheat oven to 350°F.
For the crust:
Place butter in a bowl. Sift in brown sugar, salt, and nutmeg.. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add flour to mixture, and beat at low speed until well incorporated. Line a 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray. Press crust into baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool.
For the cheese filling:
Place cottage cheese in a food processor. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once. Add the sugar, flour, lime zest, lime juice, baking powder, egg, and egg white. Process until well blended. Pour filling over crust. Bake for 25 minutes, until set. The edges will be lightly brown and the middle will jiggle slightly when touched. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours to overnight. Lift aluminum foil out of pan and cut into bars.
cinnamon freud 
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