Key Lime Pie

Hi friends! Life has been so super hectic for me literally out of nowhere, but I finally took some time to bake yesterday. I’ve been asking people in my life what they would like me to bake for them, and one of my friends made a request that I simply could not ignore. I want to loop back to the Introducing Me! post that I made where I talked about working in a pie shop when I was in high school. One of the pies I made on almost a daily basis back then was in fact key lime pie, and honestly I haven’t made one since I worked in that pie shop so I was super excited for this recipe.

Key lime pie is genuinely one of the easiest pies you can make from scratch because it doesn’t have a dough crust, and the filling is made up of all of 5 ingredients. SO! Let’s get into those ingredients.

THE CRUST

• 11 graham crackers (the full sheets)

• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar (for some extra umph)

• 5 Tbsp of melted unsalted butter

THE FILLING

• 2 14 oz. Cans of sweetened condensed milk

• 1 cup of key lime juice (from the bottle)

• Zest of one key lime

• Juice of that same key lime

• 4 large egg yolks

WHIPPED TOPPING (if you want it)

• I c. Heavy whipping cream

• 1-2 Tbsp. Powdered sugar

• A teeny tiny splash of vanilla (1/2 tsp or less)

• Buy an extra key lime to zest on top of the pie at the very end

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Starting with the crust! Go ahead and set your oven to 350 degrees. And then, we’re gonna blend or put the graham crackers in a food processor. You want an even blend with no big pieces. While the graham crackers are blending, start melting your butter in the microwave. Once you’ve got the crackers blended into a fine powder, mix it in a bowl with the granulated sugar and melted butter. The best way to describe the goal here is a sandy mixture, that kind of holds its shape when you mold it.

2. Put the crust into a pie pan or dish, and press up along the walls of the dish and along the bottom. You don’t want to press it too hard, but you don’t want it too crumbly either, I use a glass or a measuring cup to press it firmly into the dish which also evens out the crust. Once you’ve done this, put the crust in the oven for 8 minutes to set the crust. When you pull it out, leave the oven on.

3. Now we can start on the filling. In a bowl, add your key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. Mix these well. Then go ahead and add the zest of a lime and squeeze the juice into the mixture and mix it again, and you can go ahead and pour the filling over the warm crust.

4. Go ahead and put this back in the oven for 18-22 minutes. You want it to be baked, but if you gently (extremely gently) shake the pie, you’ll see some movement. It shouldn’t be liquid by any means, but a solid that has movement.

5. Let the pie cool, and then put it in the fridge for a while. You can start on your whipped topping, which is super easy. Dump the heavy whipping cream, vanilla and powdered sugar into a bowl and beat it until it’s light and fluffy and resembles whipped cream.

6. When the pie is completely cooled, pull it from the fridge, add the whipped cream in dollops, and zest your second key lime over the top of the pie. Serve it chilled, but maybe let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before you dive into this dessert

That’s all I’ve got for you guys. I hope you enjoy, and as always, give the playlist below a little looksie if you want something inspiring to listen to while you bake.

Playlist!