Key Lime Pie

Kitty FloridoJune 6, 2022

This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)

Most of my kitchen memories from when I was a kid, it was with both my grandmothers in their kitchens. Baking with them on a weekend, trying our recipes and them opening up their kitchens to me and those experiences is something I cherish way too much.

I have to say, not all their recipes are the same coming from me, but I sure try my best. I like to give them a twist, as if trying to replicate their recipes was not a huge task on its own. For example, Grandma Flory’s Pineapple Pie got an upgrade with a poppy seed crust.

Now, for Grandma Lucy’s Key lime pie…. a plot twist! But first a bit of a story behind the recipe.

Even though pies are not my forte, I absolutely love to try and bake them, giving it my best (and making my rolling pie dough skills a bit better). Now, this recipe is amazing. My grandmother would bake every weekend, waiting for the family visits, all her kids and grandkids. Usually, she would bake two pies, since we were quite a bunch.

Her recipe was with traditional pie crust, so every time she would make a recipe it always made two pies. If you’re making this recipe with a regular pate briseé like the one linked above, make sure to double the filling recipe. A tip for the filling, is that you use zest and fresh lime juice… the Kitty twist is to add a but of fresh ground ginger. And the crust, an easy recipe that’s a quick bake and by combining corn cereal crumbs with almond meal, it’s a solid win!

The best thing about this recipe is that the egg whites you have after the yolks you use for the filling are the perfect amount for the meringue. Make sure to strain the filling and let it cool slightly before filling the pie crust, then refrigerate it for a couple of hours or best overnight. Now, my grandma would do a traditional Meringue Topping that you would bake afterward like this one. So I prepared it as a swiss meringue. That way, the egg whites would get cooked, the sugar dissolved, ready to whip andt orch it at the end.

Kitty

Grandma Lucy’s Key Lime Pie

Crust recipe from Kelloggs.com and filling from The Foodies’ Kitchen

Ingredients, for the crust:
1 cup corn cereal crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup almond meal or finely chopped almonds
⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Ingredients, for the filling:
1 ⅓ cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon of salt
1 ¾ cups water
¾ cup of lime juice
1 tablespoon of lime zest (about two limes)
½ teaspoon of ground ginger
2 egg yolks

Ingredients, for the swiss meringue:
2 egg whites
¼ cup of sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of cream of tartar
½ teaspoon of vanilla

Directions:

For the crust, preheat your oven to 350° F. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, then press the mixture evenly and firmly to the bottom and on the side of the 9-inch pie pan. Bake from 5 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned.
For the filling, in a small pot add 1 ⅓ cups of sugar, cornstarch, all-purpose flour, and ¼ teaspoon of salt, and mix it with 1 ¾ cups of water.
Bring to a boil in mid-high heat, whisking constantly. Cook, mixing until it thickens. This takes about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the lime juice, zest, and ginger, and mix until combined. Remove from heat and add the yolks, mixing promptly after adding each one.
Return to the heat, and cook until it’s bubbly in the middle, about 4 to 5 minutes in the stove. Strain into a bowl and cool for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. When its completely cool, add to the pie shell and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
Mix the remaining ¼ cup of sugar with the egg whites and a pinch of salt in a heat-proof bowl. Place on a double boiler. Cook until the sugar its already dissolved.
With a hand mixer, and beat until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and keep on mixing until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix until its well incorporated.
Place the meringue on top of the pie filling. You can torch the top of the meringue or place it under the oven’s broiler until golden. Serve immediately.

Have you made this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture with the hashtag #thefoodieskitchen!

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