Monday Recipe
In celebration of finally shaking the dust of the PDRofMD from my boots, todays recipe is an homage to my new AO. My Aunt’s recipe- she resided in Miami for many years and had lime trees in her back yard. The real deal, and it’s easy.
Key Lime Pie
You’ll Need:
5 egg yolks, beaten
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice
1 (9 inch) prepared pie crust
You’ll Do:
1) Blind bake the pie crust per instructions. Allow to cool.
2) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3) Combine the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lime juice. Mix well. Pour into pie shell.
4) Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Let cool.
Top with whipped topping and garnish with lime slices if desired. Or, you have those egg whites…
Meringue
You’ll Need:
4 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
You’ll Do:
1) For best volume, bring egg whites to room temperature.
2) Whisk the egg whites until they are glossy and smooth, then add the cream of tartar to help the egg whites hold their form.
3) Slowly add the sugar to the egg whites, about a tablespoon at a time, whisking to incorporate. Continue whisking until stiff peaks form.
4) Spread meringue on top of the pie, place about 4 inches under the heat and bake at 375 for about 10 minutes, until golden.
Pastry or graham cracker pie crust? Entirely up to you. I’d make this for birthdays and the like- sons always said I needed more practice.
Category: Cooking
You keep practicing, we’ll tell you when you got it right. Lubs me some Key Lime Pie. Back yonder, we could only get it around Christmas when the citrus fruits and nuts made it into the stockings. No self respecting Southern Cook would show up at a pot luck with a frozen Mrs. Edwards. It just wasn’t fittin’.
Good choice Boss…now about that “continue whisking until stiff peak forms.” If you don’t quit that, your tennis elbow is NEVER going to heal. And you may go blind…or at least need glasses.
No choice on regular pie crust or graham cracker in this household. Graham cracker for any pie going into the frig. Maybe they hold up to chilling better?
Now, the real decision is meringue or whipped cream. Either will do nicely, although I tend a bit more toward whipped ream myself.
Is bottled key lime juice still available? We had some years ago that was very good Not like the nasty bottled lemon juice. Minute Maid used to make a frozen variety of both lemon and lime juice that was quite good also.
Yumm.
Throw a “c” in there somewhere…
Key lime juice is available through a couple of manufacturers and you can find it local grocery stores, Amazon, WalMart, etc.
For the record, my Aunt insisted the proper KLP had a home made pastry crust, used only freshly squeezed lime juice, and was topped with meringue.
Anything less was simply not done.
*grin*
When I met my second wife one of the first things we did together was take a cruise. Neither of us had done that before…
Our cruise ship had Key Lime pie that was ridiculously well made and wonderful…perhaps it was the fresh new experience of the cruise, the tropical blue waters, the alcohol, the company, or a combination of all of those things….
I do know that 20+ years later it’s still a favorite of ours and it always brings me back to that moment on that ship in that wonderful part of the world…
Food and music have that ability, to instantly transport us somewhere in time and flood our emotions with fond memories of times long past.
Those knowledgeable of such matters say that our sense of smell triggers memories more effectively than any of our senses.
Must be true–I can still smell the crappy (literally) odor of the cabin Miz Poe and I had on a Windjammer Cruise down to Martinique back in the 70’s.
Other than that, the cruise was delightful–but it’s that fetid odor that clings to my memory…
All you have to do to clear a room of unpleasant odors is put out a dish/glass/bowl of vinegar. Great stuff for clearing the room atmosphere after a party.
Try that in a tiny cabin on a 240 foot sailing schooner rocking and rolling out in the open ocean.
We ended up sleeping on deck, under the stars, when possible–along with many other passengers whose rooms smelled similarly. The captain and crew were apologetic but said every effort to rid the boat (which was going into drydock/overhaul at the conclusion of our cruise) of that sickening odor in the cabins had been unsuccessful.
They gave the distinct impression they really didn’t give a rat’s ass…
For those who like to cook under pressure….
Instant Pot Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
3/4 cup graham-cracker crumbs, about 5 crackers
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice*
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons grated key lime zest
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
Prepare a 7 inch springform pan by coating it with a non-stick spray.
In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar. Press evenly in the bottom and up the side of the pan. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Filling
In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until they are light yellow. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until thickened. Gradually add lime juice and beat until smooth. Stir in sour cream and zest. Pour batter into the springform pan on top of the crust. Cover top of springform pan with aluminum foil.
Pour 1 cup of water into the pressure cooking pot, and place the trivet in the bottom. Carefully center the filled pan on a foil sling** and lower it into the pressure cooking pot. Fold the foil sling down so that it doesn’t interfere with closing the lid.
Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and set the timer for 15 minutes. When beep sounds, turn off pressure cooker. use a natural pressure release for 10 minutes, and then do a quick pressure release to release any remaining pressure. When valve drops carefully remove lid. Remove pie and check to see if the middle is set. If not, cook an additional 5 minutes.
Remove the springform pan to a wire rack to cool. Remove aluminum foil. When pie is cooled, refrigerate covered with plastic wrap for at least 4 hours. Serve with whipped cream, optional.
There are some recipes that say you can use lime juice but do not be deceived. If you are going fresh, use key limes that are smaller and much more tart than regular limes.
In a pinch, Edwards makes one of the best variations on the theme I have ever enjoyed.
As noted, key limes are not the same as the garden variety limes. The tartness contrasted with the sweetened condensed milk is a festival of joy for the pallete
The Commissary has a Canned Key Lime pie filling that is good. Used it because my son is allergic to eggs at it did not have them it the ingredient list.
Fresh homemade is the best, but it takes eggs.
Whipped cream on top, not meringue.
Otherwise, YOWZA!!!
Congratulations on your escape from the PDRofMD!
And thanks for the recipe.
We are going to zig here while others zag, but as “Key Lime Pie” is generally thought to be the desert of the Florida Keys, we thought we let on to this little gem of a pie…..
Take your best recipe for a lemon (custard) meringue pie and substitute fresh orange juice and orange zest for the lemon juice and zest in the recipe.
Double the amount of lemon juice with orange juice.
When you are done, you have a pie that tastes exactly like the orange creamsicles many of us grew up with in school.
Just make sure you are using a cooked custard.
It’s really quite tasty and especially in the summer as it is refreshing and fun.
Key lime pie always reminds me of the TV show Dexter.
Congrats on escaping to the United States.
So glad you said Key Lime juice rather than real Key Limes, which are harder to come by and costly when they are available.
For those looking, I found real, good Key Lime juice in a large liquor store.
I was lost and needed change for the payphone, that’s why I was there…
My father introduced me to key lime pie when I visited him in Florida (My mouth is literally watering at the memory as I write this). He also introduced me to Calamondin pie, just as good but with a more orangy flavor. Don’t care much for the hot weather but there is something to be said for being able to walk out your back door and pick fresh grapefruit, calamondin, etc.
Went to a bakery once at a beach resort in south New Jersey once and they advertised Key Lime Pie. Couldn’t believe my luck. Got it home and it turned out to be made with lime Jello. Jersey has some definite culinary treats, but Southron cuisine is not its forte. As the old saying goes; “Cobbler, stick to thy last”.
You know how many of those itty bitty key limes it takes to get a half cup? Wife had me squeezing them for homemade last year.
So at this Florida house when we don’t have time Publix makes a pretty good one, and their mango key lime is damn good too.
The bottled stuff from a couple who shall remain nameless, but make “Famous Key West Lime Juice” have a pretty good product.