AuthorviagelatohawaiiCategoryBakingDifficultyBeginnerI lived in Florida for a short time while I was doing a pediatric internship and key lime pie is everywhere and it is amazing. You can get terrific key lime pie anywhere in Florida. I remember our go-to key lime pie run was from Publix (it's a grocery store).
This pie is sweet, tart, and creamy. The graham cracker crust is buttery with depth of homey comforting flavor coming from the magic alchemy of graham flour, brown sugar, and a touch of cinnamon that graham crackers have simply bought from the store, just adding butter turns it into a crust. You can make it a showstopper by simply showcasing your piping style and ideas with whipped cream on the top.
In Hawaii, where I am from and currently live, homegrown citrus abounds. We have a variety of limes including the Persian variety as well as the highly aromatic Filipino Calamansi limes so I've chosen to use both.
Calamansi limes are tiny, green or yellow on the outside and orange on the inside and extremely tart but with a distinct and unique refreshing citrus flavor. If you love the exotic flavor of Yuzu, the flavor of Calamansi will intrigue you.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Graham Cracker Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp butter
Blitz the ingredients in a food processor and then press into the pan. If you don't have a food processor, melt the butter and mix it all together then press into a ~9" pie pan.
The graham cracker crust will appear to be messy, unruly and generally not want to stick to itself much (due to the graham cracker crumbs).
Try your best and just pack it to form fit your pie, when it bakes, it will harden. Part of the charm of a Key Lime Pie is it's home baked nature - if it doesn't look perfect, it's not an issue. You will fill it and top it anyway.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Take out the crust and let it cool while you work on the filling.
Filling:
HALF of a 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup half and half (you can make your own: 1/4c heavy cream + 1/4 cup milk)
2/3 cup lime juice (in the video I'm juicing calamansi limes)
2 egg yolks
zest of three limes (3 Tbsp zest)
Whisk the Filling together.
Pour the Filling into the baked Graham Cracker Crust.
Bake it again with the filling inside, at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Take the pie out to cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set, alternatively freeze the pie for 30 minutes if you're in a rush.
Whipped Cream Topping:
1 pint heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp sugar
Whip until you have soft peaks.
Put in two piping bags with different sized tips to create different stars on top of the cooled pie.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Graham Cracker Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp butter
Blitz the ingredients in a food processor and then press into the pan. If you don't have a food processor, melt the butter and mix it all together then press into a ~9" pie pan.
The graham cracker crust will appear to be messy, unruly and generally not want to stick to itself much (due to the graham cracker crumbs).
Try your best and just pack it to form fit your pie, when it bakes, it will harden. Part of the charm of a Key Lime Pie is it's home baked nature - if it doesn't look perfect, it's not an issue. You will fill it and top it anyway.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Take out the crust and let it cool while you work on the filling.
Filling:
HALF of a 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup half and half (you can make your own: 1/4c heavy cream + 1/4 cup milk)
2/3 cup lime juice (in the video I'm juicing calamansi limes)
2 egg yolks
zest of three limes (3 Tbsp zest)
Whisk the Filling together.
Pour the Filling into the baked Graham Cracker Crust.
Bake it again with the filling inside, at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Take the pie out to cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set, alternatively freeze the pie for 30 minutes if you're in a rush.
Whipped Cream Topping:
1 pint heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp sugar
Whip until you have soft peaks.
Put in two piping bags with different sized tips to create different stars on top of the cooled pie.