Key Lime Meringue Pie

Key Lime Meringue Pie

This was something I literally whipped up for more grown-up taste buds when I was making a fun-fetti cake requested by my grandson for his birthday.

I love key lime pie and because I wanted something summery and more sophisticated to expand the birthday offerings beyond the fun-fetti cake, this is where I went. My key lime pie recipe calls for egg yolks in the filling and leaves me trying to find a way to use the whites. Meringue kisses are always yummy, but not in the middle of summer humidity and on a night when a houseful of guests are arriving for a long weekend. To use the whites, I opted for a key lime meringue pie instead of the more traditional whipped cream that I usually serve with it. For this recipe, I cheated a bit and bought a Keebler graham cracker crust rather than make my own.

Truth be told, I had no intention of blogging about this and, until I saw this beauty come out of the oven, I hadn't taken a single photo. I sent the image to Instagram because it looked so good, and then promised to share the recipe. So sorry for the lack of images.

THE RECIPE

For the pie

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1 prepared graham cracker pie crust

One 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

3 large egg yolks (whites reserved to meringue)

3T of regular lime juice

1/2 C of key lime juice

(I like the pie a little less sweet and the regular lime juice helps achieve that)

With a hand mixer, beat the egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk until completely blended

Add the lime juices and beat until incorporated

Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for 10 or 12 minutes

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes

Increase oven temp to 450 degrees

For the meringue

3 large egg whites

Pinch of salt

1/4t cream of tartar

1/4C sugar

While the filling is baking.....

Whisk the sugar, salt and cream of tartar together in a small bowl or your measuring cup

In a large bowl or a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until peaks begin to form

Continue beating and gradually adding the sugar mixture

Continue adding the sugar until it's all in the meringue and beat until stiff dry-ish peaks form.

NOTE: The meringue was whipped up in the ten minutes that the filling was baking

Once the pie has cooled for a couple o minutes, gently spread the meringue on top, and with your spatula, make little peaks.

Place the pie in the now 450 degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes until the meringue peaks turn golden.

This took 1 total of 30 minuted from my pantry to cooling on the counter.

Once the pie was completely cool, I placed the handy cover that came with the premade crust on top and refrigerated it until I was ready to serve it the next night.

Thought for Food

The meringue slipped a bit on the key lime filling after bringing the pie to room temp.

I made one mistake, the evening we had the birthday dinner, I took the fun-fetti out of the fridge to get it to room temp and stupidly, I did the same with the key lime pie. It was a warm and humid night and the pie did a bit of sweating and the meringue shifted on the filling. Because I trust you not to judge, I'm sharing a photo of a slice. Next time, I'll be serving it cold.