The key lime pie is an American classic special pie with tangy lemons or limes and a dated-back smile-making in Southern America. The Florida Keys make it super special for serving plates and palates. 

The carnation of condensed milk and cream makes it an eatable food item more and more often. The swap in limes and lemons makes a pie for starting your mouth to an ensemble of more recipes to enhance the palate experience.

Key lime pie is a mouth-puckering tart and is like a lemon candy-like cake to have. To enjoy this buttery, crumbly, and citrusy dessert, read on to the key lime pie recipe and enjoy the process of making and eating it.

1. What is Key Lime Pie?

Key lime pie is a simple to-do pie but provides an indifferent-tasting and crusty sweetness for taste buds. Its ingredients are very simple and are about 4-5 in number. They are sweetened condensed milk, lime zest and juice, eggs, digestive biscuits, and whipped cream. These are used for filling, base making, and topping the pie.

It has a sweet and creamy filling with a bright and citrusy taste, with crushable crumbs to enjoy. This pie is named after the small key limes, which have different juice colours, i.e., yellow rather than green, and are more aromatic. The only reason for it being a special pie to make is its sweet and savoury taste.

2. Making of Perfect Key Lime Pie

The key lime pie is made of condensed milk, digestive biscuits, sugar, whipped cream, and key limes or normal limes. Key lime pie is a mouth-watering and easy-doing pie over other pies on a hot summer day or when a gathering happens.

The Florida Keys are the best choice to make the pie tastier and mouth-puckering. The other ingredients used are local; you can use meringue for the food styling of the pie crust, and meringue can be substituted for key limes because this makes it more interesting.

To enjoy such a tart, follow the following steps and make yourself mesmerized while doing it. The delicious key lime pie recipe is as follows.

• Preparation time: 20 minutes.
• Cooking time: 15 minutes.
• Chill time: more than 3 hours.
• Servings: 6 to 8.

2.1. List of Ingredients

1. For the crust, you need:

• 250gm digestive biscuits.
• 100-125 gm melted butter.
• 3-4 spoons of icing sugar.

2. For zest and juice, you need:

• 4-6 normal limes or 20 key limes.

3. For the filling, you need:

• 2-3 tablespoons of lime zest.
• 3-4 egg yolks.
• One can of sweet condensed milk (400gm).
• 1/2 cup of lime juice

4. For the whipped cream:

• 3/4 cup or 1 cup of heavy whipped cream.
• 1 tbsp of powdered sugar.
• A little amount of vanilla extract.

5. Other Requirements:

• A 9-inch pie dish.
• Lime juicer – squeezer 

2.2. Making of the Graham Cracker Crust

(a) Making of a Base

• Preheat the oven (to 350 degrees Fahrenheit).
• Take the digestive biscuits and crush them into crumbs.
• In a bowl, add the grounded graham crackers of digestive biscuits, melted butter, and sugar.
• Mix them well.

NOTE: If you have a food processor, the process can be easily adapted.

(b) Pressing Crumbs into Tin

• Take a 9-inch pie dish.
• Spread the graham cracker mixture (use your fingers).
• Spread it evenly inside the pie dish in layers like fine crumbs base to make it a pie crust.
• Use a drinking glass to press the base mixture to make it even smoother.
• After the press is done, allow it to bake.

(c) The Baking Process

• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 370 degrees Fahrenheit.
• After 10 minutes, remove it.
• Set aside for a while.

2.2.1. Which Graham Cracker Crust is the Best for Key Lime Pie?

The store-bought ones are thinner when compared with homemade ones. The filling should be standard in a store-bought one, but a homemade one is thicker and can hold more filling. If you want to make a pie thicker, choose a homemade one.

2.3. For Zest and Juice, the Limes or Key Limes

• Take a medium bowl and the required number of limes.
• Roll the limes on a flat surface to make them juicier.
• Cut the limes into two halves.
• Start juicing the limes for juice.
• Put this juice into the bowl.

2.3.1. Can you Use Regular Limes to Substitute Key Limes?

Key limes are available in Florida. So, if you can get the key limes, you can use them. But as they grow wild, not everyone can get them. Even key limes can be substituted with regular limes as they also give the same tart taste and tartness to the pie.

2.4. Filling and Cooking

• Take a medium-sized bowl and put egg yolks into it.
• Whisk the egg yolks using a hand or electric mixer.
• Continue whisking until egg yolks thicken and the colour changes to white (for approximately 3 minutes).
• Add the lime zest and sweetened condensed milk into the yolk’s thickened bowl.
• Stir well and make a mixture.
• Beat the mixture for about 2 minutes.
• Take lime juice and add it to the above mixture.
• Electric whisk or whisk it until the whole of it becomes smooth.
• Feel the smoothness and texture- your lime filling is ready.
• If you want more filling, pour some more condensed milk, zest and juice.

(a) The Baking Process

• Take the prepared Graham Cracker Crust on a plate.
• Pour the filling over it.
• Set the lime filling perfectly and evenly.
• Put it in the middle rack of the oven for baking.
• Bake it for 10 minutes at 370 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Before removing it, see whether the filling is set or not.
• Once the filling is set, remove it from the oven.

(b) The Chilling Process

• After removing it from the oven, set it aside.
• Let it cool down (to room temperature).
• Chill it (for 1 hour to overnight).

2.5. The Making of Whipped Cream

• Take a chilled bowl and add heavily cold whipped cream.
• Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar to a cream.
• Whip the mixture slowly.
• Increase the speed from low to high.
• Whip until it becomes firm and creamier enough to hold the shape.

NOTE: Don’t make butter out of it by overwhipping.

2.6. Topping the Key Lime Pie

• Take out the chilled key lime pie from the fridge.
• Take the whipped cream.
• Layer the top by spreading the cream over chilled key lime pie.
• Now sprinkle it with the lime zest.
• Chill it for some more time until you serve it.

NOTE: Sometimes, you can put double layers of the cream.

2.6.1. Can you add Meringue Topping?

In a key lime pie, you can use meringue topping to add some different tasty tinctures to the pie. But before adding it, please know how to do it and also consider the changes in the above ingredients list.

2.7. Furnish the Key Lime Pie Before Serving

• Furnish the key lime pie by adding some more cream to it.
• On the soft peaks, add icing sugar and some extra lime zest.
• Add a few chopped limes onto it for styling purposes before serving.

Here is your complete key lime pie recipe. When your pie is ready, chill it before having it to get a better taste.

3. Eggless Key Lime Pie Recipe

Are you the one who is fascinated by making and eating eggless pies? Then, this easy eggless key lime pie recipe is for you. 

This eggless key lime recipe is an easy-to-make, creamier, jaw-dropping, luscious and tempting tart with less dairy and is suitable for all ages. It is termed to be an adult treat and children’s favourite cake.

3.1. List of Ingredients 

All the ingredients are the same for the process of base making, topping, zesting, and juicing. The only difference is that the egg is removed from the ingredients list of the filling. The other ingredients added here to replace eggs are:

• 1/4 cup of sour cream
• 2 tbsps. of corn starch and
• 2 tbsps. of cold water

These three ingredients might complete the action and serve the purpose of an egg in a normal key lime pie. 

3.2. The Making of Eggless Key Lime Pie

The process for the normal key lime pie recipe and the eggless key lime recipe is the same. First, make the base and bake; then make the filling by adding the filling ingredients (excluding eggs and including the above three ingredients); then zest and juice the limes.

After that, pour the filling into the baked and cooled base and cook it at 350 degrees Fahrenheit in the oven. Chill it before serving the top with whipped cream and some fresh lime zest. 

3.3. Nutritional Facts of Key Lime Pie

• Calories- 479 Kcal.
• Carbohydrates- 58 grams.
• Proteins – 10 grams.
• Fat- 24 grams.

4. Cook it and Eat it!

Key lime pie is a sweet indulgence with an awesome crumbly base and is enriched with creamy layering with a little lime zest and lime slices. It becomes a very good partner for enjoying the perfect cuisine with family. 

Last Updated on July 10, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty