Key Lime Pie
You know--the classic Thanksgiving dessert--key lime pie? This pie has saved me a million times. It is too easy to even talk about. Going on and on, trying to convince you of its simplicity, would be more complicated than you just getting out a can of sweetened condensed milk and making it already.
I made a Thanksgiving dinner for our foursome last night, which is a newish tradition I've inflicted on myself. We are always (thankfully) with large, rowdy groups on Thanksgiving, and I'm part of the potluck like everyone else, bringing salad, rolls, sometimes dessert or appetizers. But because of travel, never the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, or yams. Yancey will be working at the station this Thanksgiving, so I wanted to have a little celebration together before the ol' Divide and Conquer sets in. I had planned on not making a dessert, but just couldn't go through with Thanksgiving dinner without pie.
Enter Key Lime Pie. 20 minutes, plus some chill time in the fridge, and just the thing to brighten a dark day. Wyatt juiced limes, I whizzed graham crackers in the food processor, and my trusty pantry supplied sweetened condensed milk.
After dinner, full of blistered brussel sprouts, a classic sausage and apple stuffing, and very buttery mashed potatoes, we cut the pie. I'm not accustomed to eating when I am so full. It's that bloated, strangely comforting"It must be Thanksgiving" feeling. I won't wish you "Happy Thanksgiving" yet, because I plan on posting again before then. There are too many things to be thankful for--they get their own airtime.
Key Lime Pie
Adapted from Gourmet. Of course, my version doesn't have key limes in it. I used Persian (regular) limes like I always have.
For crust:
1 1/4 c. graham cracker crumbs (from nine standard size crackers, or one of the 3 pkgs in the box)
2 Tb. sugar
5 Tb. unsalted butter, melted
For filling:
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
6 Tb. fresh lime juice
For topping:
3/4 c. very cold heavy cream
1 Tb. sugar
zest from 1/2 lime
Make the crust: Put a rack in the middle of hte oven and preheat to 350. Butter a 9" pie plate.
Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until well-combined. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1/2 way up sides of pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes, take out of the oven, and leave the oven on.
Make the filling and bake the pie: Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until well-combined. Add juice and whisk well (filling will thicken slightly). Pour filling into crust and bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely and put into the fridge for at least 4 hours.
Just before serving, whip the cream and sugar together until it just holds stiff peaks. Spread pie with cream or top each serving with a dallop and a bit of lime zest.
Note: If you want to make this ahead of time (1 or 2 days), don't put the cream on it. Do that right before you serve it.
November 22, 2010
Reader Comments (15)
Delicious! And somehow, eating pie with fruit makes us feel better even after all that turkey...yum!
I think you have started a nice tradition with your foursome! A friend of mine, whose children are now grown, traditionally did a Thanksgiving dinner on the first day of school. Dinner morphed into good eats during a hectic, stressful week.
This makes me think of Home for the Holidays and Aunt Glady bringing Henry his favorite - key lime pie with m&m's on top. Love your desire for and maintaining of traditions.
I'm an avid reader but not much of a commenter. Since Thanksgiving is this week, I was just moved today to let you know that I am thankful for your site. It is the first one I check when I log in to cyberspace, and I look forward to seeing what you are nourishing your family with. I like your style and your food. I pray that your family is extremely blessed this holiday season. I don't have a blog, but if I did, I would hope it would be as relevant as yours.
I'm thankful for you, Sarah, and for your community-building! Bless you and your family this week! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year! And it's been a gift this year, despite political discouragements/disbelief. Gary and I feel so blessed!
I love Key Lime Pie, and have never made it because I always thought it was too time consuming...! I was wrong!! I'm going to try this for Turkey Day this year... I wonder, do you think it would do well in bite-sized pies, like from a mini-muffin tin? Mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it! :)
Although we have not made it a "tradition" yet, we've been doing this for a number of years now that we are back near family. But we don't do it before (maybe we should). Instead, we come home from Thanksgiving with family, feel a creeping urge to make a real Thanksgiving dinner (I suspect caused by the lack of leftovers in the house), try to ignore it until we have a day at home to do it right, and then devote a day to hanging out and cooking!
(As a totally random aside, I ran into Francis from BHS at the gym today -- haven't seen her since high school -- and when we were catching up, she randomly brought you guys up because I guess she ran into one of you in another random encounter awhile ago...)
Ooops -- forgot to mention what I was going to write in the first place -- this looks delicious and key lime is one of Michael's favorite pies, so I'm going to need to try it!
Our family tradition is lemon merengue pie at Thanksgiving - but I'll take key lime over lemon any day (or better, one of each!!).
Random: Where can one find your recipe for homemade ricotta cheese?? :)
Hi Hillary! I have actually never made ricotta, but I hear http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/30/food/la-fo-calcookrec1-20100930" rel="nofollow">this recipe is supposed to be good. Let me know how it turns out!
I'm cooking for my husband, dad, and brother this year, and they all love fruity desserts -- so even though it's 10:30 the night before Thanksgiving -- key lime pie just got added to my agenda for tomorrow. Thank you, this looks delicious!
Thank you, Tina. How sweet of you to come out of hiding :) Happy Thanksgiving.
Bless you, bless you for posting this. I just picked up a can of sweetened condensed milk our of my cupboard and wondered what in the world to do with it. voila! Everything else is in the cupboards and fridge already! yippee!
the proportions look so perfect! I havent had key lime pie in ages, i miss it.