KEY LIME SHORTBREAD FLUFF

You know how much I love Key Lime! Particularly in the martini form, LOL! My mom makes her Key Lime Pie with the incredible Nellie and Joe's lime juice and since I had some left after making the Mini Key Lime Mousse Cups, I had to think of something else to make that was light and fluffy and refreshing for summer. 

  Yum

The Pineapple Pretzel Fluff Dessert I made back in January was such a huge hit that I wanted to do something along those lines. I love anything with a shortbread crust so that was a given and without doing the exact key lime filling as my moms pie, I went for a cooked custard style pudding. Put that in the middle of a luscious cream cheese layer and creamy whipped topping and your all set!! Get ready for fluffy yumminess!!

What a great dessert to serve after a savory summertime meal. I think this would be kind of pretty at Christmas time too, maybe served on red plates?

What you'll need

KEY LIME SHORTBREAD FLUFF
Crust
1 cup flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter-melted
1/2 cup pecans or macadamia nuts –chopped very finely 
Cream Layer
8 oz. cream cheese- softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cool whip
1 teaspoon vanilla
Key Lime Pudding Layer
2 Tablespoon cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup key lime juice
4 egg yolks-slightly beaten
4 Tablespoon butter
green food coloring-optional
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1 1/2 cup cool whip
Topping
1 1/2 cup cool whip
Optional-Macadamia or pecan nuts-chopped or
Optional-Pecan crunch ~ Recipe HERE

Directions
Preheat the oven and spray a 11x7 baking dish with cooking spray. In a medium bowl combine crust ingredients with a fork and press in baking dish, baking for 18 min. Let cool. In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, vanilla and and powdered sugar until smooth. Fold in the 1 cup cool whip and spread over cooled crust. Refrigerate. In a medium saucepan stir the cornstarch and sugar together. Add key lime juice, egg yolks and butter and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat, cover with plastic and refrigerate about an hour. Remove pan and pudding mixture from refrigerator. To pudding mixture, add a few drops of green food coloring and mix well, then stir in the lime zest.  Fold in 1 1/2 cups cool whip and spread over cream layer. Spread last 1 1/2 cups of cool whip over pudding layer. Sprinkle with nuts or crunch and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. 

The shortbread layer after it's baked before you layer the cream goodness.

I have yet to ask, what are your favorite summer desserts? Do you usually take a dessert or salad or app to get togethers? I'd love to know!

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