pie

Key Lime Pie

~ lk529 ~ 6 Comments

As I’ve gotten “older” my sweet tooth has gotten smaller. When a craving hits, it’s usually for something salty – like popcorn. But there is one dessert that I can never say no to. And because today is my 25th birthday, I am going to indulge.

Key Lime Pie is my absolute favorite dessert, and Publix (sorry to anyone not in the South!) makes the best one! …. Or so I thought. I am very proud to declare that I now make the best Key Lime Pie. I’m particularly excited for this because I now know that I can have perfect key lime pie even when we leave the land of Publix.

A couple years ago I made a key lime pie for my brother’s fiancé’s birthday as it’s also one of her favorites. (Her favorite is actually pumpkin pie but my brother hates it, and her birthday is in July anyway.) I had actually squeezed the juice out of actual key limes! That pie was unbelievably tart. I don’t even recall which recipe I used.

This time I found Nellie & Joe Key West Lime Juice and happily used that (no funky ingredients involved). I would love to say that this was only my second attempt at key lime pie. But that’d be a lie. I made two pies for my birthday. The first was a complete disaster. My can of sweetened condensed milk had expired. And I didn’t notice it until I was emptying the contents into the egg yolk mixture. I immediately went to the internet and established that I should still be okay to use it. 

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So I carried on. Key lime pie is not naturally green (but if you want it to be by all means add a drop or two of food

coloring), but it’s definitely not supposed to be marigold. 

It’s not supposed to smell overpoweringly like sweetened condensed milk either. I did still taste it – the texture was a little off and it was still just a little too sour. So I went back to the store and back to square one. 

That failed attempt was actually a blessing in disguise because I found the perfect, better-than-Publix recipe! Third time’s the charm. 😉

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients:

  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 egg white, beaten until frothy
  • 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
  • zest 1 lime
  • 1/2 C key lime juice
  • 9 in graham cracker pie crust
  • 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp powdered sugar

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Using a hand mixer, beat egg yolks with lime zest and sweetened condensed milk. Add in lime juice. Add the egg white.
  3. Pour pie filling into pie crust. Bake 15 minutes. Allow pie to cool to room temperature for at least an hour before covering and putting in the fridge.
  4. Using a hand mixer, make the whipped cream. Beat the heavy cream until it starts to get thick, then add in the vanilla and sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Top pie with whipped cream right before serving. Note: I don’t like my whipped cream to be too sweet, so feel free to add more sugar/vanilla to taste.

*This recipe is adapted from The Big Cheese at http://www.food.com/recipe/traditional-key-lime-pie-109918*
Key Lime Pie 1

Key Lime Pie 2

Lemon Meringue Pie

~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

When life gives you lemons….. make a pie! August 15th is National Lemon Meringue Pie day. I don’t know who makes this stuff up, but it’s an excuse to try something new. I’ve never made a lemon meringue pie before, and actually I’ve never eaten a lemon meringue pie before!

My blog post about Blueberry Bars received the most likes. And I realized that the correlation between like and sugar was probably pretty accurate.  And when my Goat Cheese Cheesecake became my top post, I knew I’d have to venture into the baking world some more.

Stuart was my sous chef in this endeavor. And we had a great time together in the kitchen. Our song (Then, by Brad Paisley) even came on Pandora! Stuart started the lemon filling on the stove while I separated the eggs and made the meringue.

Lemon Meringue Pie Filling Lemon Meringue Pie Filling

Meringue Meringue Meringue

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:

  • 9 in pie crust, baked and cooled
  • 1 1/4 C sugar
  • 1/2 C flour
  • 1 1/2 C water
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of 1 1/2 lemons
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 6 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Steps

  1. In a saucepan whisk together flour, water, salt, and 1 1/4 C sugar. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once at a boil, cook for one more minute – still stirring constantly – or until the mixture becomes gelatinous. Remove from heat.
  2. Temper the egg yolks by whisking in 3-4 tbsp of the mixture. Pour egg yolks into the saucepan, return to the heat, and cook one more minute – stirring constantly.
  3. Stir in butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Pour mixture into the baked pie crust.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  5. Use an electric hand mixer to make the meringue by beating the egg whites with vanilla, cream of tartar, and 6 tbsp sugar. Continue to beat until stiff peaks are formed.
  6. Top pie with meringue. Make sure to “seal” the meringue to the crust.
  7. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the meringue is golden.

*This recipe is adapted from http://www.texascooking.com/recipes/lemon-meringue-pie.htm*

Lemon Meringue Pie 1

Lemon Meringue Pie 2

Blueberry Bars

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

It’s PCS (permanent change of station) season here in the military community and a lot of our friends are packing up and moving on to their next great adventure.

I recently made these Blueberry Bars for a going-away party. We were celebrating after an indoor soccer game, and in retrospect I probably should’ve chosen cherry pie filling instead of blueberry because they wear red as a team. But, it’s July and July is National Blueberry Month. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

Blueberry Bars

Ingredients:

  • 1 C room temperature butter
  • 1 3/4 C sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 C flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 can blueberry pie filling, or whatever flavor you desire!

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add in eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Beat until combined. Mix in the dry ingredients until combined.
  3. Spread all but 1 1/2 C of batter into greased 9×13″ cake pan. Spread the pie filling on top and then spoon on the remaining batter.
  4. Bake 40 minutes.

*This recipe is adapted from Alicia at http://www.everydayhomecook.com/2011/08/fruit-squares/*

Blueberry Bars Blueberry Bars

Update May 2017: While this electronic update is occurring end of January 2018, these updated photos are from May 2017! Wow. I made these bars for a church picnic and they were a huge hit. These blueberry bars are incredibly easy to assemble and perfect for bringing to any potluck. You can change the filling with your favorite pie flavor or a fruit that better fits the season.

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A dusting of powdered sugar never hurts!

bb bars (sugar)