Key Lime Pie

I apologize for my lack of entries recently.  I haven't stopped baking...don't worry.  I just haven't had time to blog about it.  Lately,  I have been experimenting with different types of pies.  I made Pecan pie at Christmas which I will talk about on another occasion.  I made an apple pie in November that wasn't really worthy of the blog (Yeah that bad) and then yesterday I made a Peanut butter torte which I plan to blog about in the near future.  Now to discuss Key Lime pie.  This recipe comes to you straight from Southern Living.  Of note, I don't eat Key Lime pie very often... so my knowledge of this pie is limited but now growing.  :)      

Now to discuss the recipe.  The recipe will follow.  Key Limes are named after the Florida Keys an area in which these limes grow.  They are actually grown in Central America, Mexico and Southeast Asia as well, but when they were first truly introduced to the US market the majority were being supplied from the Florida Keys.  Their popularity in the US has been from this very pie.  When ripe, a key lime is actually yellow not green unlike many other limes.  Henceforth, a key lime pie is usually a yellow color.


Confession time: When I was making this very pie I thought to myself, "Huh, I thought key lime pie was suppose to be green?".  Instead of accepting the color of the pie, I decided to place a drop of green food coloring in the pie to make it greener even though the directions did not call for green food coloring.  When I served the pie, I realized that this was a mistake.  The onlookers eyes were clear that key lime pie wasn't suppose to fluoresce.  Oopps... Note to self: No green food coloring.  The funniest part about it is the recipe book in the side column mentions that key limes make the pie a yellow color.

Overall this recipe was pretty good.  I give it 3.5 out of 5.  I would like to retry making it with fresh key limes instead of the juice and see how it affects the taste.  I felt like there was a little bit of an aftertaste.  Maybe though this is just my lack of experience with key limes.  Maybe, I need to go key lime pie tasting prior to making my next key lime pie.  :)  My favorite part of the recipe was the crust.  It crumbled in my mouth. MMmmm.  Anyways, below is the recipe.  Enjoy making it!  It was a relatively easy recipe.  Just leave out the green food dye. ;)

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs

¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

2(14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk

1 cup fresh Key lime juice

2 egg whites

¼ tsp cream of tarter

2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Garnish: lime slices

Instructions

1.       1. Combine first three ingredients.  Press into a 9 inch pie plate.

2.      2.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes; cool.  Stir together milk and lime juice until blended.  Pour into crust.

3.      3.  Beat egg whites and cream of tarter at high speed with an electric mixer just until foamy.  Add sugar, 1 Tbsp at a time, beating until soft peaks form and sugar dissolves (2 to 4 minutes)

4.       4. Spread meringue over filling

5.      5.  Bake at 325 for 25 to 28 minutes.  Chill 8 hours.  Garnish if desired with lime slices

j