My First Key Lime Pie
This post is one of my most viewed and it is the perfect, easy dessert for a hot summer day. Since we are driving back to Phoenix today, it is a good time to share this oldie but goodie.
I have never made a key lime pie….ever. I did try my hand at Lemon Meringue once and it was a total disaster. We were at Ranch Market this the weekend. They had key limes for $0.99 a lb. and I couldn’t resist buying a big bag of them. Remember, key limes are the very small and yellowish-green.
Though the limes I use in this recipe are more green, the produce manager assures me these are key limes.
There are quite a few different recipes for key lime pie~~with and without eggs. The recipe I select is from Allrecipe because it is customer rated with 5 stars. There are just a few ingredients you need for this pie~graham crackers, sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, butter, sugar and cinnamon.
The Crust
You can use either a store-bought graham cracker crust or it’s very easy to make your own from scratch.
Here’s how to make the crust. For 1 1/2 cups of finely ground graham crackers, I use approximately 1.5 packages of graham crackers. Using the Cuisinart, it takes a few seconds to pulverize the crackers into crumbs. You can also put the crackers into a Ziplock bag and use a rolling pin to crush them.
Has anyone else noticed how small graham crackers have become? I actually googled it and there have been numerous complaints on the reduction in size and diminished taste. Graham crackers were a favorite childhood treat, but now they seem a bit skimpy. I digress…
Back to the pie. Add sugar and melted butter to the crushed graham cracker crumbs. Cinnamon is optional but I include it in this recipe. Mix well.
Press the mixture into a 9 inch pie plate~~I use a small measuring cup to tap the crumbs down.
Due to the butter, the crumbs stay in place and adhere easily to the side of the pie pan/dish. As a side note, my favorite pie plates are Pyrex. There are so many sizes to choose from but here is a link to pie plates.
Bake it at 375 degrees for 7 minutes. Cool before adding the filling.
The Filling
To make the key lime filling, squeeze the tiny fellas until you get 3/4 cup of key lime juice. It takes approximately 19 limes (14 or so limes = 1 lb.) and fortunately my strong son did all the squeezing.
This is the BEST hand-held juicer from Zulay that works for both lemons and limes. Honestly, I use this kitchen tool ALL the time.
The lime zest is an important ingredient in this recipe as it helps step up the citrus flavor. By the way, I LOVE this zester by Microplane. The handle comes in all different colors. By far, this is the best zester I have ever owned. Not only do I use it for lemons and limes, but for grating fresh nutmeg too.
You can use a stand mixer or hand-held one, or a good strong arm will do to mix the sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice and lime zest together.
Pour the filling into a COOL crust and bake for ONLY A FEW MINUTES. I was so surprised that this didn’t require more time in the oven (5-8 minutes). DO NOT BROWN!
Here is what it looked like after I took it out of the oven. Note the tiny pinhole bubbles just on the surface. Chill pie thoroughly before serving.
The Topping
You can make your own whipped cream using this professional whipped cream dispenser or purchase a can of Redi-Whip. Someone once gave me a whipped cream dispenser as a gift and it’s the only way we make whipped cream. All you do is pour in fresh whipping cream, sweeten (or not) with confectioner’s sugar and use a small nitrogen (N20) cartridge. Within seconds, you have whipped cream.
There are several varieties of whipped cream dispensers at various price points. Since we seem to use ours all the time, we have a more expensive one here.
Top the pie with fresh whipped cream and lime slices.
If there is any pie left, refrigerate it until someone comes looking for a second piece!
Bon Appetit! Have a wonderful day!
If you enjoy this post, please share on Pinterest.
Here is the recipe for Key Lime Pie by Allrecipe:
Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9" prepared graham cracker crust
- 3 cups sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup key lime juice
- 1 TBSP grated lime zest
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 6 TBSP butter melted
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.
- Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.
To Make a Graham Cracker Crust
- Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.
- Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 7 minutes. Cool. If recipe calls for unbaked pie shell, just chill for about 1 hour.
Just a reminder that any words that are italicized bring you to the source. If it is a product on Amazon, please note that I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you purchase something through my website, I receive a small (very small!) stipend, which doesn’t affect the price you pay at all. My goal is to make sourcing the items easy for you. Thank you for your continued support.
Key Lime is my hubby’s favorite pie and I have yet to make one. I will definitely have to try your recipe. It looks so delicious.
this is great Mary and thanks for sharing.
Mike, you will love how easy (and tasty!) it is!
This looks almost too pretty to eat, Mary! I live in Florida so I’m always curious how people make key lime pie recipes their own. Yours looks really good and I’m excited to try it. Thanks so much for the easy step by step guide. It’s super helpful! Big hugs and happy summer, CoCo
CoCo, if you have another good key lime pie recipe, please share! This one is so good and super easy…which I love.
This looks and sounds so delicious.
I will be making this as soon as the doc says, I can have some sugar.
Ugh, its so hard to cut back.
Yummm! Looks fabulous! Thanks for the great recipe, and hope you have a safe and uneventful trip home! 😉
Barbara, thank you, sweet friend. Hope you had a wonderful 4th!
Looks much tastier than the one my husband likes to make, I’ll challenge him to a dual with your fine example of a TRUE Key Lime pie!
Thanks so much!
Oh I love a baking challenge! Let me know who wins!
It’s gorgeous! Looks like you have been doing it for years. It sounds delicious.
Renae, I bake all sorts of pies but key lime has been an elusive one! I was surprised how easy (and delicious) this recipe is!
This looks delicious! One question: If ripe key limes are yellow, but sold green, should I keep them out of refrig until yellow? And why does photo show green limes on pie? Is there a significant difference in taste between ripe and unripe, like with most fruits? Thanks so much for your insights/tips.
Jane, such a great question. When I bought the key limes they were green and I used them while green. I will try and find green ones again, keep them and see how long it takes for them to turn yellow. I would imagine yellow ones would be easier to squeeze, but I can honestly say the pie is so delicious using green key limes. But I will experiment with yellow ones and let you know! And yes, I would probably keep the green key limes on the counter until they turn. Plus this gives me a very good reason to make another pie!!! Thanks for weighing in.
Glad to supply reasons for further “research!” . I’ll do likewise. Yum!
You say “3 cups sweetened condensed milk.” How many 14oz cans is that?
Teresa, Well, there are 8 ounces in a cup, times 3 = 24 ounces. Two cans of 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk (28 ounces) should cover it with 4 ounces (or 1/2 cup) leftover.
The best key lime pie ever is so very simple.
2 cans sweetened condensed milk.
6 oz key lime juice. From a bottle is fine.
5 egg yolks.
Mix, pour into a graham cracker pie shell.
Cook 15 minutes at 300.
Can’t get any better than this.
I love key lime pie this will be my first try beside the one I buy cost $10.00 today I will buy ingredients.
The limes you pictured were not Key Lines. Key Limes are yellow.
Carol, the key lines sold here are small and green. We also have a tree in our orchard and they are green. Maybe they turn yellow at some point but any key lime I’ve seen here is green.
We had a couple of trees and they always turned yellow when ripe and were very juicy, Google confirms they are yellow when ripe. I think they sell them green because people think limes should be green. The same reason they put green food coloring in store bought and restaurant pies.
You said you used “15 packages of graham crackers”. Given that there are normally there packages to a box, do you mean to tell me you used 5 boxes of graham crackers?? Or did you mean you used 15 “sheets” of the crackers? That was very confusing. Please clarify!
In the body of the post, it states use 1.5 packages of graham crackers. Those are the individual packages inside the box. I will double check the recipe at the end I attached, but it is only 1.5 packages.
Since this is my favorite pie I WILL be making this. Thank you for the simple recipe.
Tina, I love this recipe. Let me know how it turns out!
This looks so refreshing and delicious! (drooling) I have never made Key Lime Pie either but I love the flavor and taste! I’m going to try this recipe, it’s a must… and it looks super simple too. I like how you decorated it also, really neat. Thanks for sharing another great recipe!
I do hope you are bringing a sample this weekend!! Looking forward to seeing you. I am going to try to make this but unfortunately not before i see you!
I’m really surprised that this was your first attempt. I’m not a cook or baker at all and this is one dessert I actually do well making. It was my go to dessert for pot lucks. People thought I’d gone to a lot of trouble but as you describe, the hardest part was juicing the limes. Keep sharing these posts. I enjoy them.