It's time for Key Lime Pie! This classic American pie is so easy - just whisk, pour and bake the filling! That's how easy this Key Lime Pie is. I'll also share the secret on how to make this if you don't have key limes and only have regular limes! Make a delicious dessert with this key lime pie recipe. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.
About This Key Lime Pie Recipe
If you've ever been gifted some limes or want to know a recipe that uses lots of limes, this key lime pie is the answer! Key Lime Pie is an American recipe that uses tart key limes in it that give it a delicious creamy, tangy taste. Unlike lemon meringue pie, there isn't a meringue topping and the filling is super easy and just requires whisking condensed milk with lime juice and egg yolks. It's SO much easier to make than lemon meringue pie (but if you're in the mood, try my lemon meringue pie recipe here!)
What are key limes? Key limes that are used in key lime pie are sharper and tangier than Persian limes which are the more common type of lime in Australia. Key limes are mostly grown in Mexico in Veracruz and are also known as Mexican limes or West Indian limes. Key limes are smaller and have more seeds than Persian limes.
This recipe uses simple ingredients and you don't need to procure key lime juice for this. You will need:
Lime juice - fresh or bottled is fine!
Lemon juice to tarten up the lime juice even more so that it tastes like key lime juice. Again fresh or bottled is fine.
Sweetened condensed milk - not evaporated milk and not light milk for this.
Biscoff cookies. I like using these because they add extra spice and flavour to your pie crust. Make sure to pulverise the cookies until very fine.
Butter to moisten the cookie crumbs so that they can form a pie crust.
Tips For Making Key Lime Pie
1 - Can I use normal limes for Key lime pie? Yes! Just add some lemon juice and you'll make the juice tart enough to mimic key limes.
2 - How to get more lime juice out of limes? Limes are notorious for holding onto their juice. Try firmly rolling the whole limes along the kitchen counter to break the little sacs. Some people also heat up limes in the microwave for 10 seconds or so especially if they come straight out of the fridge.
3 - To make the crumb base I use Biscoff cookies that tend to be a bit more buttery than Graham crackers or digestives which are drier. If you use Graham crackers or digestives, you will need more butter to get a mixture that can cling together. If you grab a small handful and they stick together with damp and not wet sand then you have the right texture.
4 - Use a flat bottomed glass to press the crumbs into the pie dish
5 - This delicious dessert is best made a day ahead or a few hours ahead of time.
6 - Also don't worry if your first slice doesn't come out cleanly. The first slice is often the sacrificial slice and the hardest to get out!
Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 2 hours or overnight chilling
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 8 people
Ingredients Needed
For Crust:
200g/7ozs Biscoff cookies
30g/1oz raw sugar
50-60g/1.7-2.1ozs melted butter plus extra for greasing
For Filling
2x400g/14oz sweetened condensed milk tins
220ml/7.7flozs lime juice
30ml/1floz lemon juice
6 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lime zest
For Topping
1 cup/250ml/8.8flozs pure or thickened cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 lime, sliced thinly
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced. Butter a deep pie dish (mine was 23cms/9inches at the top and 18cms/7inches on the base and 6cms/2.3inches high). Place the Biscoff cookies in a food processor and blend until very fine crumbs (Thermomix directions: 30 seconds, speed#10). Empty into a bowl and mix with the raw sugar. Then add in the melted butter. It should feel like damp sand. You don't want it too wet but you do want it to stick together (use the extra butter if needed). Gently press into the pie dish up to the sides 1 inch high (use a flat bottomed glass) and bake for 10 minutes. Cool.
Step 2 -Whisk the condensed milk with the lime and lemon juices. Then whisk in the egg yolks and lime zest until you get a smooth mixture. Pour over the crust and bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Before baking
Step 3 -Place the cream in a chilled mixing bowl with chilled beaters. Add the sugar and then whisk until you get firm peaks (keep watching this and do not overmix or you will get butter). Place in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (something like an 867 nozzle). Pipe 8 rosettes on top and then place a slice of lime vertically in each rosette.
After baking
Personal Note
I made this key lime pie just before I left for my trip to Switzerland - I literally gave pieces to neighbours on the day that I flew out. I had a late flight leaving around 8pm so it wasn't as panicked as it sounds. On the flight out of Sydney I was seated behind a guy that was so charming that he had finagled 18 Jim Beams and Cokes from the flight attendants. I think he managed this feat because he was so personable but also because he held the alcohol so well that he seemed completely sober (and he had also hidden the tiny bottles in the middle seat's pocket).
As we were getting ready to disembark he suggested to me and the couple next to me that we all hang out on the lounge. The couple begged off but he seemed funny and I had to go to a lounge anyway. Sometimes I just do things for the plot. We decided on one lounge mainly because it satisfied my need for a shower and his need for more cocktails. He told me that he was a 33 year old former soccer player from Manchester that also had around 15 Airbnbs in Bali. He had a way of charming men in particular and wasn't afraid of trying it on. As soon as he saw someone with a golf cart he asked if they could take "me and my wife" on a ride. He greeted other men with such brotherly enthusiasm that the smile never left their faces. I was unfamiliar with his game until that point but it was impressive.
"Will you have a Long Island iced tea with me?" he asked. "No I will not, I'll have a sparkling water please," I told the bartender. Just in case I made sure that I collected my drink. He noticed that I was working so he told me that he would go off to get himself some espresso martinis and I heard him in the background singing Happy Birthday to someone and then ten minutes later he was rapping (quite badly). The guys loved him but the women less so. It got a bit much so I excused myself to have a shower and for a time out in case people thought that we were together as he kept calling me his wife. When I got out of the shower I couldn't find him and just like that, he was gone!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever do something for the plot? And have you ever made a key lime pie?
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