Ina’s FROZEN Key Lime Pie

In my quest for baking all things pumpkin spice, I stumbled upon this recipe for a frozen key lime pie. Not quite the fall vibe I was looking for, but I am a huge key lime pie fan.

Overall, I am picky about key lime pies. They have to be tart and and very citrusy. Light, not that weird gelatinous texture or cake like. With whipped cream. This recipe fit the bill, so let’s go…. we will park the pumpkin spice for now.

Ingredients for the crust: 10 graham crackers, 1/4 cup of sugar, 6 tablespoons of butter. Melt the butter, smash the graham crackers. Mix the three ingredients together in a bowl. Put it in your pie pan and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

This is what my crust looked like before it went in the oven. I don’t have a Cuisinart in our apartment, so I put the graham crackers in a ziplock bag and smashed them with a rolling pin.

Ingredients for the filling: 6 egg yolks at room temperature, 1/4 cup sugar, 1-14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk and 5 limes. You can use 4 limes, but 5 makes it so gooooooooooood. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together for 5 minutes on a high speed until they are thick.

You need 3/4 cup of fresh lime juice – 5 limes does the trick! I used this little squeezing gadget to juice the limes.

Once the egg yolks and sugar are thick, mix in the condensed milk and fresh lime juice. I also zested an entire lime into the mix for even MORE citrus! Excuse the neon pink bowl…

Pour the filling into the pie pan over your cooled crust. I added even more lime zest on top! Stick it in the freezer for a few hours.

For the top: 1 cup cold heavy cream, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and lime slices for decor. My “cooking” attention span is not very long, so I spaced on some of these steps. I used the ENTIRE pint of heavy cream vs. one cup. It was pouring rain outside and I had no vanilla extract in the apartment (and was not going outside), so I used rum. Completely forgot to add the sugar to the whipped cream…..

Beat the heavy cream on high speed, until thick. Then add the sugar and vanilla. In my case, the rum!

I took the pie out of the freezer after about 4 hours before I added the whipped cream topping.

Finished! Not too bad. Back in the freezer for a few hours.

Time for the taste test! Look how much whipped cream there is – LOL 🙂

Ok, this pie is NUTS!!!!!! So light. The lime comes through beautifully. I am not a huge graham cracker fan, but the crust is delicious. Maybe too much whipped cream, but is there ever too much whipped cream? You don’t miss the sugar in the whipped cream either. The best part, it’s COLD. Tastes like a combination of a pie and ice cream mixed together. The temps in Boston tomorrow are going to be in the 60’s, so I will pick the pumpkin spice theme back up later. In the meantime, Tim and I have 6 more slices of this beauty to finish. BTW – according to Ina, this pie can last in the freezer for months!

the wry home