Key lime pie. Just saying it makes me think of summer. And while I’m longing for cooler weather so I can break out my fall wardrobe, I know in three or four months I’ll be daydreaming about wearing shorts and eating dinner on the balcony. Too much of summer has already slipped away; I’ve missed my chance to grow vegetables, I haven’t made it to the beach once, and most importantly, I never got up to Maine to eat lobster. I went for the first time last year, and while it was quite a trek for a day trip, I was hoping this would become an annual occurrence. C’est la vie.
Before summer fades away, before I consume hot chocolate daily to fight the cold and live in my Uggs for months at a time, let’s have some pie, shall we?
What you’ll need:
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, combine graham cracker crumbs (or whole graham crackers), sugar, and melted butter. Pulse a few times, then scrape down the sides and repeat once more.
I’d hate to bake something that wasn’t delicious, and since I have no idea whether graham crackers, sugar, and butter go well together, I better take a bite and see if it’s ok.
Hey, at least I used a fork!
Pour the buttery crumb mixture into your tart shell (or pie dish) and press along the bottom and up the sides. The beauties of using a tart shell are that (a) you can just pop the tart out when it’s finished and not worry about slicing it in the shell, and (b) it looks fancy.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until your nose tells you that if you leave it in the oven any longer your crust is going to burn (for me, this was at 8.5 minutes). Remove your crust from the oven and let cool while you prepare the filling.
Next up, key limes! This wouldn’t be “key lime pie” unless you used actual key limes. Aren’t they lovely?
As lovely as they are, they are such a pain to juice. Seriously, they’re tiny, have very little liquid inside, and burn like crazy if you happen to have a paper cut on your finger…
But before you juice ‘em, make sure to remove some zest.
I’m quite excited about this next part as I get to use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer for the first time!
In the bowl of your mixer, combine the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, salt, lime zest, and lime juice.
Mix until blended (look at her go!).
Once combined, pour your mixture into the cooled tart shell. You may have to move the shell around a little to make sure the filling is spread out evenly. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven, and let cool.
If you want to jazz it up a little, add some sliced key limes to the pie for decoration.
The moment of truth: can I remove the tart from the shell without damaging the crust?
Success. Let this cool in the fridge for a few hours (overnight is even better), and voila! All I need is some fresh whipped cream and a cup of coffee to accompany this and I’m good to go.
Key Lime Pie (Tart)
*Recipe adapted from Sweetcakes Bakeshop.
Yields: 8 servings
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 2 ½ tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- ½ cup freshly squeezed juice from key limes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, combine graham cracker crumbs (or whole graham crackers), sugar, and melted butter. Pulse a few times, then scrape down the sides and repeat once more.
- Pour the buttery crumb mixture into your tart shell (or pie dish) and press along the bottom and up the sides. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove your crust from the oven and let cool while you prepare the filling.
- Zest 5 of your limes and reserve.
- In the bowl of your mixer, combine the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, salt, lime zest, and lime juice. Mix until blended.
- Once combined, pour your mixture into the cooled tart shell. You may have to move the shell around a little to make sure the filling is spread out evenly. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven, and let cool. Add sliced key limes for decoration, slice, and serve!
