Key Lime Pie Recipe

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Last weekend was my father-in-law’s birthday, and I was tasked with making one of his favorite treats, key lime pie.  I started looking through recipes and it became clear that there is no standard way of making it.  For example, one recipe called for egg yolks, another called for egg whites, and yet another used no eggs at all.  In fact, there were only three things that they agreed on, graham cracker crust, sweetened condensed milk, and of course key lime juice.  It appears that no matter how you make it, there will be someone waiting to tell you how you did it all wrong and have soiled the good name citrus fruits and the Florida Keys.  This makes things easy however, since as long as it comes out tasty, I’ll call it a success.  This Key Lime Pie Recipe will have you dreaming of the tropics!

I liked it, Papa George enjoyed it (and incidentally ate half of it).  Even my flavor challenged and infuriatingly picky wife and son liked it, so I’m happy with it. (Little does he know that his wife proofreads all of this posts!! – Jill)  If you must, you can curse my culinary skills and decry me as a pie neophyte in the comments section.

We begin with making the crust.

Here’s what you need for your Key Lime Pie Recipe!

Graham Cracker Crust

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
7 tbsp melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 325°
2. Grind up the graham crackers (I used a food processor)
3. Mix crumbs and melted butter with a fork
4. Firmly press into bottom of pie plate
5. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. Allow crust to cool completely before filling

Key Lime Filling

2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
4 egg whites
1 cup key lime juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Start with making a meringue base.
3. Place egg whites in mixer bowl
4. Add 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (cream of tartar or even plain white vinegar is also acceptable). Weak acids help stabilize the egg white proteins
5. Add 2 tbsp powdered sugar
6. Beat the mixture until stiff. This usually requires the high speeds on a stand mixer.
7. Add the 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk and 1 cup of key lime juice.
8. Mix thoroughly. You will lose some of the air and structure of the meringue base, but enough remains to create a light and fluffy pie.
9. Pour the filling mixture into the pie plate on top of the graham cracker crust.
10. Bake for around 10 minutes. If the top starts to brown, you have gone too long.
11. Allow to cool for 3 hours and then refrigerate.
12. Serve cold with a heap of whipped cream on top.

We love this Key Lime Pie Recipe for summer parties!

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