Hubby wants key lime pie. Now after doing a completely kick-arse effort on the sticky toffee pudding the other night, he seems to think I have some modicum of baking ability :smack:
So now I need those of you who are conniseurs of the pie of Key Limes to lend me your recipes. Tell me how it’s supposed to come out when done perfect-like. I’ve never seen one before, so I don’t know how this goes…
Please! 
Key Lime Pie is like a small piece of green heaven. It should make your mouth water just looking at the green pudding-like filling. Once begun, you should be unable to stop and unwilling to share. That’s a good pie!
Seriously, I have never been able to make one myself. I can’t ever get the key lime filling correct. The filling should look like pudding but be thicker, not watery or runny. I prefer a graham cracker crust. Whipped cream is optional, but by no means necessary. I wish I could help you with a recipe, but the best key lime pies I have ever tasted were in the Florida Keys, not home made. Except for this one lady in Key Largo I knew who kept a pie in the fridge at all times. She made ASWOME pies but I never got a recipe from her.
If you find a good (tasty) recipe, please let us all know! I’d be happy to try again.
Oh yeah, key limes are not the same as regular limes. If you can’t find key limes, I wouldn’t recommend substituting. Key limes are a bit more tart than regular limes, so the pie should have a nice, sweet-tasting zing! to it.
I think the key is to use sweetened condensed milk as the filling, with key lime juice added. It should be creamy and thick but not runny at all. But the filling should stay white–it should never be green! I’d just go with a store-bought graham cracker crust.
My wife - who doesn’t cook/bake much at all (I do most of it) - found a GREAT recipe for Key Lime pie on Martha Stewart’s website…
Key Lime Pie
1 small can swetened condensed milk
3 key limes
2 eggs
Squeeze the limes as much as possible by hand (this takes a while). Take the eggs and dump all the clear goo, taking only the good yellow bits. Mix the egg with the milk. Then (and only then) add the key lime juice (if you add the key lime juice first it curdles the milk). Pour into a pie crust (store-bnought is fine) and bake at 350 for 19 minutes.
Once done, let it cool for three hours, then apply Cool Whip or other whipped cream. Cool Whip is lighter in texture, and this is good thing. Key Lime Pie should not be weighed down, but it’s your pie.
Now, add the Cecil Twist. Sprikle graham crackers crumbs around the center of the pie, making a nice circle. Then take a slice of lime. Make a slit in it from the outside to the center. Spread the “legs” and eat it in the pie. Chill and serve.
Next question, then: Non-US substitute for Graham Crackers?
Thanks for all your tips people, keep 'em coming!
A nit I must pick - Key Limes are not green. They are about the size of golf balls and yellow when ripe. If you order Key Lime pie and they set something green in front of you, send it back. (sorry, snowboarder)
I used to have a key lime tree in my back yard. Good times.
http://keylimejuice.com/
Nellie and Joe’s makes a respectable bottled Key Lime juice.
I would use digestive buscuits. They are by no means identical, but the texture of both works for cheesecake crusts.
Everyone else is right–regular limes won’t work. You’ve gotta use key limes (or key lime juice. They’ve got a completely different flavor.
Instead of Graham Crackers, use shortbread cookies. Y’know the ones that come in the red plaid box? I’ve actually used 'em and they’re a perfect “as good as, but differerent” subsitute. Look up any recipe for a graham cracker crust (which should be graham crackers, sugar and butter) and reduce the sugar by about 1/4th
True, key limes are small and yellow/green, but the vast majority of cooks add green food coloring to their filling, to distinguish it from a lemon pie (and because people generally associate “lime” with “green”). I was talking about the pie, not the key limes; sorry for not being clear there.
And the taste of a real key lime pie versus a lime pie is very different. When I was in college I had a few girlfriends or GF moms that tried to make me “key” lime pie… also one who tried to make me lasagna with cottage cheese instead of ricotta… man was that hard to keep a straight face while eating. In cooking and baking, there are some things that you just can’t substitute.
But you are correct, key limes are little yellow-y green gold balls. Mmmmmmmm…
Um, I know others have touched on this, but – GREEN!? If I were to get a piece of key lime pie that was green, I’d send it back. I’ve lived in Florida for 24 of my 26 years, and I have never seen a key lime pie that was green. It’s not perfectly white, either, but definitely not green.
Also, I second the recommendation of Nellie and Joe’s Key Lime Juice, but I’m betting that if you can’t get graham crackers, you can’t get Nellie and Joe’s either. My state has made very few culinary contributions, but at least we have key lime pie. I know what I’m getting for lunch at work tomorrow.
To give the crust a little more flavor and texture, mix some crushed pecans in. You’ll have to crush them in the blender or a spice mill, but it’s worth it.
I’ve never been able to get the color right, I t always comes out aqua, so I just don’t fool with it.
Or one the other hand, if hubby likes ice cream you could double his pleasure if you can get Blue Bell ice cream where you live. Blue Bell makes a great Key Lime Pie ice cream, complete with graham cracker crust bits mixed in. It is superb.
Hob-nobs might work then, they’re sweetened digestive biscuits…
Also, I’ll be scraping to find key limes or key lime juice. Might have to see if I can get it shipped over from somewhere ponderponder
And unfortunately we don’t get Blue Bell ice cream. So many tasty things I can’t get 
Save yourself all trouble and order a pie from Mike’s Pies.
That is one tasty pie, let me tell you. Best in all the land many times over. I wish I had one right now.
You can use just ordinary limes. My pie recipe will work pretty well regardless.
Nope. First, I am pretty certain Hobnobs aren’t sweetened digestives, or they certainly weren’t when I lived in the UK. And second the extra sweetening would not be a good thing, IMHO. I would use plain digestives (McVities of course, if they still exist), melted butter, and throw in some crystalized ginger when food processing it into crumbs.
For those of you reading this in the USA, go to the next Sam’s Club or Costco…they have Key Lime Pie mixes that come in 4 packs in an industrial sized box - and believe it or not, it was one of the best I have ever had.
My wife uses a finely crushed hard pretzel crust in her frozen margarita pie (what an incredible treat!). If you’re not trying to be authentic you could give that a try in a key lime pie. Granted, it’s not a “real” key lime pie when you do that, but it’s tasty.
“Vast majority”? I think not. I’ve never had a green key lime pie in a Florida restaurant, nor have an of my Floridian friends ever put food coloring in one. I’ve had key lime pies in top restaurants in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and even in Mexico, and not one single pie was green. Even here in Montana, where they don’t know a key lime from a kumquat, I’ve only found one restaurant that served green key lime pies, and they weren’t very good. I’ve seen a few store-bought key lime pies that were green, but I can’t imagine where your “vast majority” comes from. I’d say the “vast majority” know that any key lime pie fan will push away a plate with a green “key lime” pie on it.