My Lime Pie

Last weekend our lovely friends, Bridget & Kyle, invited us over to their new home for dinner.  I asked Bridget what I could bring and she gave me the option of fruit or dessert – naturally, I picked the latter 😉

She had a Cinco de Mayo-esque meal planned – Chicken Tortilla Soup, Fresh Guacamole and Margaritas for the mamas.  Dads will be dads and they stuck to beer.  Our cute kiddos stuck to the sandbox and dancing in the water table – they stopped for a few bites of dinner and to let us indulge in this oh so sweet and tart treat!  I can’t call it Key lime, because I didn’t use Key limes, just regular old limes – so I decided to call it My Lime Pie, it sounds catchy and makes me smile 🙂

So after I decide to make this pie – and by make it I mean make up a recipe – Bridget tells me this pie is one of her all time favorite desserts and it reminds her of her childhood vacationing in Naples, Florida.  No pressure or anything….I sure was hoping this pie lived up to her nostalgic memories.

Let’s Make Graham Cracker Crust

In a food processor pulse 1 and 1/2 packages of graham crackers until they are finely ground.  You could also put the crackers in a Ziploc bag and smash them with the bottom of a pan – either way works!  Add to a bowl and drizzle in 1/2 cup of melted butter and salt if you’re using unsalted butter.

Mix, mix, mix until the crumbs begin to look like wet sand.

Next pour into a 9 inch pie pan.

And gently press the crumbs up onto the sides and bottom of the dish. Make sure there are no holes – voila!

Bake crust in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before filling with custard.

Let’s Make Lime Custard

For the custard I highly recommend fresh squeezed lime juice – besides you need limes to zest because the zest really adds beauty and flavor to the pie.  So, take the time to zest and juice the limes – really, it is worth it.  But on the off chance you skip the zest and use bottled juice, the pie will still be good, just not as good as it could have been – ok stepping off my fresh lime soapbox now….

I ended up using 10 limes and 1 lemon – as I mentioned above I wanted to try and mimic the flavor of a Key Lime so I used a little lemon juice, you don’t have to do that part, I was just toying around with the idea and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  So if you have a lemon on hand, go for it!

Also, make sure to zest the limes BEFORE juicing them – and if you don’t own a microplane you should buy one – like right now! It is such a useful kitchen tool for zesting citrus, plus you grate ginger, garlic, nutmeg, hard cheeses, etc. And HELLO look at all the fun colors you can order!  I might need to get myself the green one….

Moving on, you can see how I just took off the very thin green layer of the limes, anything deeper will be bitter.

And then I juiced those little buggers with my electric juicer and this, my friends, is the aftermath – kind of beautiful, actually.

Next add the egg yolks, lime juice, lime zest and sweetened condensed milk to a large mixing bowl and mix with your paddle attachment or with the regular beaters of a hand held mixer on high for 2 minutes.  You want the mixture to look think and creamy and pale yellow.

Next pour the custard into the pre-baked pie shell and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You will notice that the custard does not fill the pie all the way up – that is intentional – we’re leaving room for the fresh whipped cream!

The pie should not brown and should only wobble a little in the middle when it is finished cooking.  Remove promptly and allow to cool for 1 hour on the stove and then move to the refrigerator to cool completely (about 3 hours).  This beauty is ready for some whipped cream!

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment or using a hand held mixer with the whip attachment, whip 1 pint of heavy whipping cream with 2 Tablespoons of powder sugar for 2-3 minutes until stiff peaks form and you have made fresh whipped cream.  Alternatively you could buy canned whip cream – totally up to you, but fresh is super easy to make and tastes pretty darn good!

Bridget got some action shots of me adding the whipped cream at her house right before we served the pie.  Thanks, lady xoxo!

Ready? Set? Cut!  See the nearly equal amount of dense tart lime custard and the light sweet airy whipped cream floating on top? That is the ratio you are looking for – so good!  Now indulge because you worked hard baking that pie!