Key Lime Pie

I've made key lime pie before, but at the time I neglected to take any pictures. Our friend Jon is an amateur downhill bike racer, and sometimes he comes to stay with James and me in Vermont for a race. On Labor Day weekend he came up and said key lime pie was his favorite dessert...and he loved it! He came up again this weekend and requested the same pie, and this time I remembered to bring out my camera!

As you can see, this is another super-easy pie recipe. I'm becoming more and more convinced that simple yet bold ingredients can make something that is tastier than a pie with a lot of different things thrown in. How could you distinguish all those flavors?

A great thing about this pie is the crust: crushed graham crackers, butter and some sugar. Mmmm.

A great thing to note about the core of this pie is that there is barely any sugar added. Condensed milk and the limes have a nice balance of sweet and tart, which makes this a *fairly* healthy pie compared to some. The egg yolks also make the inside lovely and custardy. What do I do with those unused egg whites? you may ask. What I do is pour them into a freezer bag, write in Sharpie how many whites are in it, and then pop it in the freezer! Then, if you're making some sort of meringue which requires lots of whites, you simply have to defrost them and nothing is wasted! Another cool way I saw to do this was to have an ice try handy, and pour each white into an individual cube dish. Then when you freeze them, you have individual whites all pre-set for you to pop out! Just don't forget that they're egg whites and not real ice cubes, or you might get a nasty surprise when you put one in your drink.

Although the condensed milk makes the inside very thick when the pie is uncooked, the filling with definitely "set" after you bake it. Just jiggle the dish, and if there's a bit of movement that's good; anything that still appears thin or liquidy is not.

Above is the baked pie: toasted crust, custard center! In this recipe, the filling does not fill the pie to the top of the crust completely; rather, it leaves room for a layer of whipped topping.

I did do this by hand until it was thick and stiff, although it took about 5 minutes and my arm was burning a bit by the end! I did finally find a near-mint condition electric hand mixer, but the arms have yet to be washed. I tell you, I am really excited the next time I have to do any sort of whipped cream or meringue!

A very tasty pie, although the filling is VERY loose. It isn't oozy like a berry pie, but it does not hold its shape like a cheesecake. I think that in the future I will add a little cornstarch to firm it up, although the texture was nice and creamy and I wouldn't want to ruin that. Enjoy this easy and delicious pie: very refreshing in the hot weather!