Key Lime Pie

A very good friend asked me recently to make a dessert for her wedding reception in May. I don't make desserts too often because I can't be trusted to not eat the whole thing and I have a spotty track record with how well they turn out. However I do enjoy a good challenge when it comes to cooking. After thinking about my favorite desserts for a few days I decided on key lime pie. It's not too complicated and it's perfect for a May wedding and warmer temps.

I got the recipe off of one of my favorite food blogs, Gimme Some Oven. It was pretty straightforward and didn't require too many ingredients.

For the graham cracker crust you will need:

1 1/4 cups finely-ground graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons of sugar
5 tablespoons of melted butter

For the filling:

1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup of key lime juice, fresh squeezed or bottled
1 tablespoon of lime zest


For the whipped cream:

1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar

One of the best investments I've ever made was my food processor. I took about a pack and a half of the graham crackers, broke them up and tossed them in, then turned on the processor until they were finely ground. If you don't have a food processor you could just throw them in a large plastic Ziploc and smash them with something like a crab mallet.

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the graham cracker crumbs with the butter and sugar, then pat the mixture into a pie dish making sure you get a fair amount up the sides of the dish. Bake for 10 minutes then let cool.

While the graham cracker crust is baking make the filling. Whisk the egg yolks and can of condensed milk, then add in the other ingredients. I squeezed my limes by hand, mostly because I have this handy dandy tool that I got for under $5 at Homegoods that makes it really easy. I came up slightly short on juice with 4 limes but not enough to make a huge difference. I would recommend getting at least 5 limes if you're going to juice your own.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours. I let mine sit overnight.

The whipped cream, oddly enough, is where I struggled. All you do is mix the two ingredients together and I thought I could get away with hand mixing it but that does not work at all. Even whisking it as fast as possible it did not solidify. Fortunately I had enough for a second batch so I dug out my mom's old electric hand mixer, set it on whip, and that did the trick! Go figure. The top picture is the failed batch, the second the success!

To decorate the pie I bought a disposable pastry bag with a tip that you can cut to your desired width to make stars, piping, etc. I need to experiment a little with making it more precise but it turned out pretty well! I then zested a little more lime over the top for a garnish.

Cutting into it the crust held up pretty well. Parts of it were a little crumbly but overall it stayed together. I also liked that the filling isn't overly sweet and you can taste the lime without it being too sour. I'm very happy with the way it turned out and am looking forward to serving it in a month or so!