Key Lime Pie

Last weekend, my family had its "Christmas" celebration. My sister had been out of the country since November. Since we already usually have that celebration on New Year's Day to completely sidestep all of the extended family bickering that can come when everyone wants to have theirs during the same time slots, it wasn't that weird to have it later.

Besides, it's much colder in February this time around than December was, so it actually felt more like Christmas anyway. And, without the gigantic pressure of an entire retail industry shoving the day down our throats, it had a more natural family feel anyway.

So, last week, I got a call *from* my sister asking if I'd be willing to make a key lime pie and bring it along. I made one 2 years before (along with butterscotch cream pie and chocolate cream pie) and she'd been thinking about during much of her stay, working in a Jamaican orphanage on the top of a mountain. Figuring that you can't really turn down a sister that you love, much less someone who was willing to do 2 months of charity work in less than ideal conditions, I made it.

Actually, I made 3.

See, I mentioned at work that I was going to the grocery store after work to pick up limes and that I hoped they were decent this time of year. One thing led to another and someone said that it'd be tasty if I brought one in to work too. So, I figured, why not? I'll make 2. Then, I got back to work and Shelly called and said that I should probably make 2 because she remembered it going quickly last time. But, because she didn't know about pie #2 yet, hers was actually pie #3.

The thing is, though, that key lime pie is one of the easiest pies to make "from scratch" and is an easy way to impress people when you're asked to bring a dessert. So, I thought I'd share.


Key Lime Pie - Serves 8 slices

Optional:
1/2 cup bottled lime or key lime juice


The bottled lime juice is in case you don't want to spend the time extracting and straining that much juice out of the 4 limes. And, the graham cracker crust could be made by hand, but I don't bother. What I do to the crust makes it work and it tastes fine. Much of the complaint about the store-bought crusts is because they use vegetable shortening instead of butter, which I remedy in the pursuit of a more firm, crunchy crust.

At any rate, preheat the oven to 325°F.

Take the eggs and seperate 4 of the yolks off in a bowl. The remaining whole egg and the egg whites go into another bowl and get beaten.

Melt the butter in the microwave and get a pastry brush. I prefer the silicon ones as you tend to waste less getting stuck in the brush.

Brush a coating of butter into the crust, followed by a coating of the beaten egg wash. You want the butter to cover completely and the egg wash to be as thin as you can get it without missing anywhere.

Put the crust in the oven for 15-20 minutes. What you're after is golden toasting and you'll smell it when that happens.

In the mean time, you need to scrape the zest off of the limes into the bowl with the egg yolks. You only want the green part of the peel, not the white pith underneath. The smaller the bits are the better.

Beat the zest and the egg yolks together for a couple of minutes.

Then, scrape the sweetened condensed milk out of the can and into the egg mixture and beat *that* until it's blended.

If you're using the fresh lime juice, you need to end up with 1/2 cup of squeezed and strained juice, otherwise, use the limes in your Diet Coke and use 1/2 cup of bottled juice. Put the lime juice into the bowl and mix until blended.

Let this sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature. The lime juice will work on the eggs and the whole mixture will thicken.

To completely set it up, though, we'll bake it for about 15 minutes in a 300°F oven, until it still moves when you shake it, but it's completely set.

Let it cool and refrigerate it for 3 hours before topping and serving.

The easy way to top it is with Cool Whip or canned whipped cream. If you want to make your own whipped cream:


3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla


Put that in your electric mixer (or prepare to earn your stripes doing it by hand) and beat it until it is at the "stiff peaks" level. That's when you can pull the whisk out of the mixture, turn it upside-down and the mixture will stand up on its own without tipping over.

Spread the whipped cream across the pie, cut and serve.

Oh, and in case it isn't obvious, this pie is generally more suitable for adults than kids. I wouldn't try serving it to a room full of 8 year olds.