Key Lime Pie

I  have not been cooking or baking much lately. Life has been go go go and I have been catching meals where I can and haven't been in my own kitchen too much. It seems like once the weather warms up and spring hits, there is just so much to do. This was a long cold winter, and I am glad we are starting to see the light..

On that note, nothing says summer like a key lime pie. Tamara asked if we could make one to surprise Matt for his birthday. It was easy enough to make, and went especially fast with two people. We were a good team and it didn't take us long. The recipe is inspired by Ricardo's recipe.

The only labour-intensive part was squeezing the juice of all the little key limes. One cup of  juice is a lot!

our hard work

Tamara prepping the graham crust

The crust and filling 

Lighting the Candles

Happy Birthday Matt! 

Ingredients:
Crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup  unsalted butter, melted
 2 tablespoons (30 ml) sugar

Filling
1 cup  key lime juice
2 tablespoons (30 ml) corn starch
1 can 300 ml sweetened condensed milk 

Grated zest of 6 key limes 

 2 tablespoons 35% cream (whipping cream)
 2 eggs

Whipped Cream
1 3/4 cups 35% cream
 1/4 cup  icing sugar
 Grated zest of 1 lime (optional)

Directions:
Crust
With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
In a bowl, combine all the ingredients. Press into a 23-cm (9-inch) pie plate. Bake for about 10 minutes. Set aside. 

Filling
In a saucepan, off the heat, mix lime juice and cornstarch with a whisk. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until it thickens. Pour filling into crust. Refrigerate for about three hours or until completely cooled.
Whipped Cream
In a bowl, beat all the ingredients with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
Garnish the pie with the whipped cream.