Key Lime Pie

There are a couple of foods and flavors that scream for their season. Winter you have cranberries, peppermint, soups and roasts. Spring brings florals, rosemary, thyme, lavender, deviled eggs. And Fall smells of cinnamon, corny dogs (You texans know what I mean), and buffalo wings for those college football watching Saturdays. Typically, I'd tell you the fall is my favorite season of the year. BUT my favorite cooking season would have to be the summer. Summer flavors like citrus, grilled steaks and fish, salads with fresh berries...the list goes on. I just love it.

Today I'm going to focus on the citrus, I can't remember the last time I let a summer go by without making a batch of lemon bars and a key lime pie....usually several. It's just so light and refreshing yet tangy and delicious! It's also a pretty easy flavor to work with and goes well with just about everything. I highly recommend the meyer lemon olive oil that O Olive Oil Company  makes. I use lemon on chicken, when i bake shrimp, in my butter that goes with crab legs, in cupcakes, in buttercream. Everywhere! And the same can be said with limes. Limes also go great with jalapenos. The multitude of combinations you can do with these two fruits is ridonkulous. Which is why I enjoy cooking in the summer so much!

Unfortunately there are a lot of reasons I have slowed down my cooking this season, but this weekend I said enough is enough and set out to make my pie.

Key Lime Pie is one of the easiest pies you can make. People pretty consistently tell me that what I think is easy is not easy for everyone else. That may be true from time to time.  But I try to share recipes that the average cook can make. Otherwise what fun is it to share them?

Pies are tricky and what is tricky about them is typically the crust. Especially when making one from scratch. With this recipe it is extremely hard to mess up the crust! And there is no crust on top which makes it even easier to deal with.

This is a recipe I found on Sweet Pea's Kitchen, but I have changed the proportions and added some vanilla. I prefer a thick layers of each level: the crust, filling, and topping. I think I'd even go larger than what I did this weekend. But it's up to you! I also used actual key limes from the grocery store where as Sweet Pea used limes. The first time I used it i used regular limes and it worked just fine. You have to use A LOT of key limes to get the required juice amount, so it just depends on how hard you want to work ;)

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients:

•   8 tsp. Lime Zest
•   1 C. Lime juice*
•   8 Large egg yolks**
•   2 (14 oz.) cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk
•   18 Honey Graham Crackers
•   4 Tbsp. Sugar
•   10 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, melted
•   1 1/2 C. Heavy Whipping Cream
•   1/2 C. Confectioner's Sugar
•   2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
•   1/2 lime thinly sliced + sugar for garnish (optional)

* 6-7 Large Limes OR a whole bag of key limes
**If you don't know how to separate the eggs and yolks send me a message! But I save the whites for egg white omelets the next morning :)

How to do it:

Step 1: Whisk together your zest and egg yolks. The mixture will turn a little green and that's ok! Add the sweetened milk and whisk until combined. Then do the same with the lime juice. Put the bowl to the side and let your mixture sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. This will allow your mixture to thicken. You don't need to touch it! It will do it all by itself.

Step 2: Start on your crust! Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Most pies cook best if you move your rack to the center of your oven. Use a food processor to grind the graham crackers into find pieces. Add your 4 TBSP of sugar and pulsate just until combined. Then pour your crumbs into a small bowl. Add your melted butter and mix until combined. I use my hands to make sure everything gets really evenly spread out. 

Step 3: Move your crumbs to the pie plate. Using your hands press the crumbs into the plate until evenly distributed. And don't forget to go up the sides! The crumbs tend to group together in the middle of your plate, so be sure to really work them out to the sides. 

Step 4: Bake the crust for about 20 minutes. Your oven should smell fantastic and the crust should be browning just a little. (this is hard to tell because the graham crackers are already brown!) I do it mostly based on smell. This doesn't matter too too much as the crust will continue to cook when you put it back in with the filling. That being said don't skip it!

Step 5: Pour your newly thickened filing into the crust and bake for 22-25 minutes. Gently jiggle the pie. You want the filling to be firm but still have a little bit of jiggle. If it's moving around too much it's not set enough and you need to leave it in a little longer. 

Step 6: Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then chill in your refrigerator for 3 hours. DO NOT put the cream on until it is cooled, or else it will just melt.

Step 7: While your pie is chilling you can start the whipped cream. Pour your heavy whipping cream into a bowl with your mixer. Beat on a HIGH speed until soft peaks form. (It will look like nothing is happening for a little while and then like magic it starts thickening. Quickly stick your finger in and pull it out. You should see a little tiny peak appear). Once you have soft peaks add your confectioner's sugar just a little at a time and your vanilla. Beat until you get stiff peaks! (Ones that keep their peak shape after you pull your finger out). 

Step 8: Use a spatula or icing knife to spread your whipped cream over the cake. If you want to use the garnish. take your thinly sliced lime and coat it in your sugar. You can cut a small slit and twist them, put whole slices on your cake, or do halves like I did. 

Happy Eating! 

xoxo
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