Key Lime Pie

Key lime pie, it is a nice sweet tart pie.  This recipe is a culmination of a few recipes I have used over the years. This key lime is a heavier type of pie.  It is more filling than it whipped type of pie, so more filling means if you are on a diet this one is not for you, but it is quite tasty.

What you need for the pie filling: (this is a double recipe since I use deep pie pans)

1. Two 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2. 1 cup of key lime juice ( approximately 2 lbs of key limes)
3. 6 egg yolks
4. Some blue food coloring (optional)

What you'll need for the crust:

1. 1 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs
2. 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
3. 2 tbsp sugar

What you would need for the toppings and garnishes:

1. 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
2. 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
3. 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar
4. 1 tsp of vanilla extract
5. Lime slice (optional)

If you have never mad a gram cracker pie crust it is very easy to do.  All you have to do is:

1. Melt the 1/2 stick of unsalted butter in the microwave.
2. Add in the sugar and stir, it should distribute and dissolve fairly easy.
3. Add in the gram cracker crumbs and mix.
4. Pour the crust mixture into the pie pan and push it firmly up into the sides and into the bottom of the pan creating an even layer on all sides.
5. Now place the pie crust into the pre-heated oven of 350ºF and bake for 10minutes, meanwhile it is baking we can mix up the pie filling, after it is done pull it and and we are ready fo the pie mixture to go in.

For the key lime pie filling:

1. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. 
2. In the same bowl the yolks are in add in the two 14 oz sweetened condensed milk, and mix untill the yolks are thourghly encorporated into the mixture.
3. Now add in the key lime juice and mix again.
4. Now you will have a very yellow key lime pie mixture.
5. If you want you can add some blue food coloring to give the mixture a green tint.
6. Now just pour the mixture into the cooked gram cracker crust.

A lot of people for some reason do not like yellow key lime pie not sure why, I am assuming that since most people associate limes with the color green they feel it should be green.  I have even gone so far as to bring two key lime pies to a party, one that was yellow and one that was green (ran out of coloring), told every one that they were the exact same pie and all of the green was eaten when the yellow still had over half left. 

Now that the pie is baking in the 350ºF for 30 minutes we can make the garnish for the pie. after the pie is done baking it need to cool 30 minutes before it goes into the fridge.  It will be ready to eat in about 2-3 hours after that.

I like to make my own whipped cream instead of using the store bought stuff. I always make a little more then is needed just in case someone wants extra on their slice.

To make the whipped cream just:

1. Beat the heavy whipping cream in a mixture on high for a few minutes and you will see it become light and fluffy.
2. Add in the sugar, cream of tartar and vanilla extract while it is being whipped.
3. Done

For the limes what I usually so is just slice them into thin circles cut and twist them and place them into the whipped cream dollops that I piped onto the slice right before serving the pie.

Enjoy