Award Winning KeyLime Pie

Key lime is a unique citrus. It is definitely sour, but for their small package, they are surprisingly comforting and sweet, as though you mixed tart lime juice with honey. The trick to making this pie award-winning really is using as much key lime juice as you can!

The reason this pie is award-winning is not as you would expect. I did not attend a state fair with hundreds of little old ladies looking to win for the 5th year in a row. No. Rather, my sister, mom, and I went to this Soup and Pie competition at a pottery studio! The prizes were not money or medals, but memberships to the studio! Side note: this was in March, not my ideal time to have about 20 cups of soup. But my pie got 3rd place even for its small size and it being my first time ever making it! I’m sure this lovely velvety pie will be able to fulfill your sweet tooth while being fresh and bright for those blistering hot days to come. This recipe is also served best as a next-day dish, which makes me happy. It helps me not rush the day when I am hosting and allows me to prepare then forget about it the night before. On to the recipe!

Important: There are a few specifics in this recipe that need to be stuck to, or else (as I have experienced) the texture or taste will be off…You need to use Key limes, specifically, for at least some of the recipe (I have found mine at Whole Foods or FreshThyme Market) and please, please use Eagle Brand condensed milk (I have used the latter and it was not the right texture and tastes different). Off we go!

INGREDIENTS:

Crust

1/2 cup graham cracker crust box

6 T melted butter

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Filling

10-16 Key limes (or as many as you can find, that’s just usually what is in a bag)

4 Parisian (normal) limes

2 egg yolks

28 oz of EAGLE BRAND condensed milk

1/3 cup sour cream

1 t vanilla extract

Pinch of fine sea salt

METHOD:

Pre-heat oven to 350

Mix all of crust ingredients. You know it’s ready when it looks like magic sand and stays together when you squeeze a ball of it in your hand

Press crust mixture into pie tin or ceramic. I use a measuring cup to push it down because it can get everywhere on your hands.

Then bake the crust alone in its container for 10 min. When you take it out, press the crust down again, and definitely use a measuring cup this time to prevent burns.

Next…Zesting. This isn’t bad, but I will tell you, it takes a little while. Just zest as many key limes as you can into a big bowl.

Then we juice the limes to get 1 cup of lime juice. Key limes do not produce much juice, but we want to get as much as possible. I think last time I made this, my 15 key limes made up about 1/3 cup, so that’s where I used the regular limes was to make up that 2/3 cup of juice.

Once juice and zest are in the bowl, we will add our condensed milk, vanilla, egg yolks, sour cream, and salt all into the same bowl and just mix it together.

After mixing, we put the bowl into the baked crust and we bake the whole pie for about 20 more mins, until the crust has noticeably browned and the pie is not watery when you shake it, but still has a little sway.

When you take out the pie, wait until it is fully cooled to set in the fridge, where it should set for 4 hrs-overnight.

And I enjoy mine with ABUNCH of whipped cream and some zest on top!

This is the recipe that I have been popping out all summer, at any event! It’s a crowd-pleaser, quick clean up, and easy to do. I hope you’re able to try it out and let me know what you think!! HappyZesting ;)