Key Lime Pie

My favorite pie is key lime pie, there's nothing as satisfying as a slice of key lime pie in the summer, sweet, tart, cool and creamy. Sometime I dream about key lime pie, especially when I was in college and craving a slice from California Pizza Kitchen. What I love about that pie is the graham cracker crust. Give me a key lime pie on an excellent graham cracker crust and I'm sold.

Before I made Key Lime pie, I researched the heck out of it first (which is usually what I do when broaching a new recipe). I like to use Joy of Baking as a go-to guide for baking. It has detailed descriptions of what makes up each item, and easy to follow instructions.

Here is the very simple recipe from Joy of Baking. I did not include the graham cracker crust since I used a kosher for passover coconut macaroon crust instead.

A slice of tart, creamy heaven... it even has clouds!

Key Lime Pie

1 pre-prepared graham cracker crust, or coconut macaroon crust

Filling:

3 large egg yolks,room temperature

One 14 - ounce (390 grams) can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup (120 ml) key lime juice (can use regular limes)

2 teaspoons grated lime zest (outer skin)

Topping:

1 cup (240 ml)cold heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat content)

2 tablespoons (30 grams) granulated white sugar

Filling: 

In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Gradually add the condensed milk and beat until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat in the lime juice and zest.

Pour the filling over the crust and bake for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until the filling is set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once it has completely cooled, cover and refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Once the filling has chilled, in the bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Either pipe or place mounds of whipping cream on top of the filling. Can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

Makes 1 - 9 inch (23 cm) pie or tart.

* You could use a piping tip, but I just filled a ziploc bag with whipped cream, and snipped off the end

Key lime pie on a hot summer's day

Since Key Limes are a seasonal ingredient, we only get to make key lime pie in the summer. But how I crave Key Lime pie all year!

If you can get your hands on some Key Limes before then, this would make a great Passover dessert, seeing as how Passover is coming right around the corner this Friday. Or perhaps try it out with the juice of regular limes.

Passover means that many days of cooking are ahead. Stay tuned for the recipes I'll be posting!