I’m going to let you in on a secret now…It may surprise you, so hold onto your chair.
I like Key Lime Pie – or Key Lime anything – better than chocolate. Better than Oreos. Better than ice cream. Better than the beach.
Well, maybe not the beach, but I do like it a lot. Key Lime Pie is almost always my dessert choice when I eat at restaurants.
Because I am such a Key Lime Pie fool, I have searched for years to find an easy recipe that tastes as good as the first piece I ever had. (The first piece of anything is always the best…)
Hurrah! I think I’ve found it and here it is!
INGREDIENTS
- Single-Crust pie shell
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon of key lime zest
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup lime juice
Prepare pastry shell by lining a 9 inch pie pan. You can either make your own homemade pie shell (use my Perfect Pie Crust recipe) or you can do what I did on this particular occasion – use a frozen pie shell.
HOW TO MAKE KEY LIME PIE
Beat three egg yolks. (No, they aren’t beaten yet. But they will be. Just wait.)
Now it’s time for the sweetened condensed milk. You can either use the well-known brand name (which I won’t mention here) or another kind. I always go for the thriftiest solution.
The pie doesn’t care.
Gradually stir the sweetened condensed milk into the beaten eggs.
Add the lime zest. Mix well. (By the way… see my zester? Best purchase I ever made. I use it all of the time.)
Now it’s time for the limes. Can’t make a Key Lime Pie without them, right?
What is a key lime, you ask? They are little round limes that come from Florida. When you buy them in the store, the bag is labeled Key Lime. They have a slightly different flavor than “regular” limes, but in our part of the world, we don’t see them much. So if I don’t have them, I use regular limes and the pie is still good. But key limes do taste better, in my humble opinion.
Now comes the hard part – juicing all of those hard, little limes…
First, I tried to extract the juice using my normal juicer. That was a big bust, because the limes are so little they slipped off of the top. So I had to resort to squeezing them by hand – one measly little lime at a time. Because key limes are so tiny, it took the entire bag to get enough lime juice.
Well. Actually. No. I just lied. I didn’t get quite enough juice out of this big pile of limes, so I had to squeeze in a little bit of lemon into it.
But no worries… the pie was awesome. Apparently, limes and lemons are not against sharing a pie pan.
You’ve already got the lime juice in the mixer, right? Good. Now add the water.
Mix until thickened. Notice that the filling isn’t green. If you want your pie to be green, you’ll need to add a couple of drops of green food coloring at this point.
I chose to leave mine au naturale.
Pour the filing into the pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.
Smack your lips when you take the pie out of the oven. That’s all you are allowed to do at this point, because you HAVE to MAKE yourself let the pie cool down before you eat it.
Resist.
Resist.
Do not lick the pie.
Not yet.
Okay! We’re finally ready to dig in! Serve your pie with whipped cream. Try not to cry when you taste how delicious it is. Attempt to refrain from carrying the pie, along with a fork, into the closet so that you can pig out on Key Lime Pie goodness.
Your family will thank you for your generosity.
key lime pie is also wonderful in a graham cracker crust!
If you like Key lime, then you need to take a trip to Rexburg to a little custard shoppe, and have the most amazing stuff you’ve ever tasted in your life. My husband and I had some this last summer on our anniversary and trip and it was AMAZING. WE had to go back the next night for some more before left town.
Just a quick tip for hand squeezing lemons and limes for juice. If you roll the lemon/lime on the counter, putting some pressure on it, it will release the juice easier than if you just cut and squeeze. Sounds crazy, but it works.
Thanks for the great recipe, I love key lime pie!
I thought I struck gold when I learned that the limes grown locally in this part of Mexico are Key Limes. The trees are ever-bearing and we get fresh Key Limes all year long.
However, after 14 years here, I find myself craving “limones real” or lemons. Go figure.
Would anyone like to trade some lemons for Key Limes?
Ro, thanks for sharing your recipe find. It’s sounds both delicious and easy to make.
All the stores in Mexico (Puerto Vallarta to be exact) are always stocked with zillions of key limes. but Eileen is right, sometimes you need a lemon! There is even a “limon” here. Sort of a cross between a lemon and an orange. I am thankful there is a Costco here where I can get lemons.
Thanks for the recipe. On my way downstairs to try it out.
Oh, I forgot, they even sell hand squeezers here for limes that look similar to a garlic press. I love mine!
I’m with you, Ro! Key Lime Pie is BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE…a fact that people who know me find hard to believe! I can’t wait to try this recipe out. Hard to find a good Key Lime Pie in West Texas!
Mine is in the oven now! Can’t wait to try it.
Sounds SO GOOD! Lime pie was the very first pie I ever made (for Dad). It was his favorite and now is one of mine, too. (I tend to love most pies, especially pudding or custard type). Since my hubby dislikes the kinds of pies I love, I tend to buy them when we are out instead of having to eat the entire pie by myself. While reading this I thought I should make them as Cupcake tarts instead, so I can MAKE them, HAVE them and EAT them on occasion. Wondered if they freeze well, so I’ll report back!
I LOVE Key Lime pie! And, I’ll second the opinion about them being better than chocolate. I’m going to have to make this very soon!
After putting this in Friday’s newsletter when it was oh-so-close to lunchtime, I couldn’t resist making this when I found some key limes this week. I made it yesterday, and it was rather late in the day by the time it was cooled so I stuck it in the fridge overnight. It was the first thing my daughter asked for this morning when she came down for breakfast. She just ate the first slice and announced that it is delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe, Ro!
Lime pie totally made my mouth watering. Frankly saying I never tasted a dessert like lime pie. All of those pictures are very amazing and made me convinced to give it a try. Thanks for sharing good instruction and recipe as well. These will help me to reduce my difficulties.
Hope you like it!