Lemonade Soul: Key Lime Pie

Now, first off, I'll apologize for the crappy lighting on this picture of the pie. I'm sorry. Now I'll tell you why it happened.

This pie is the dessert I baked in Minnesota for the Fourth of July. We'd have a nice ol' grill and a piece of pie to finish off the night as we listened to fireworks exploding in the distance. (Watching them was not an option - we didn't have lawn chairs and you do not want to sit outside at night in northern Minnesota for more than one minute. Then you're just a mosquito buffet table.)

But, surprise surprise, a storm hit and our power was out. You can see the beginnings of the storm, sort of, in the window.

Luckily, the pie had already been baked, but we had to eat it in the dark. Which means only that one picture at the top of the post of the finished thing, all nicely sliced up.

So as you can tell from the pictures, I made this at the cabin, on that beautiful lime green table. (See what I did there?) It's seriously the smallest kitchen I have ever been in that isn't inside a hotel. Actually, I've been in hotel room kitchens that are bigger than that kitchen. But not as well-stocked. No, we've got all the spices. And like three pounds of raisins. Not kidding.

Anyway, a key lime pie is pretty easy to make, and rather than just use the recipe off the back of the key lime juice bottle for the zillionth time, I decided I'd try Joanne Fluke's recipe from, you guessed it, Key Lime Pie Murder.

It's lighter and fluffier and easy to make and very good. And yes, this is made with a meringue, and yes, you absolutely should make this with the meringue.* If you don't want to make a meringue, then don't use this recipe and use the one off the back of the key lime juice bottle.

Key Lime Pie

REQUIRES EGG WHITES AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

1 graham cracker crust

5 eggs

14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup key lime juice

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

pinch of salt

1/3 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, whisk one whole egg. *Add 4 egg yolks, reserving the whites for the meringue in a separate bowl. Whisk the egg and yolks until they are a uniform color.
Stir in sweetened condensed milk and sour cream.
In a small bowl, combine lime juice and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour sugared juice into the egg mixture and thoroughly combine.
Pour filling into graham cracker crust and bake 20 minutes. Once the pie has baked, place it on a wire rack and increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
Once egg whites are at room temperature, add cream of tartar and salt to the bowl and beat until the whites form soft peaks.
Continue to beat while sprinkling in 1/3 cup sugar. Beat until egg whites form firm peaks.
Spread meringue on top of pie with a spatula, sealing it to the edges of the crust. Smooth the meringue over or dot it with the back of the spatula to form peaks.
Bake for 12 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Breaking it down:

Beat egg and yolks...

...and add sour cream and sweetened condensed milk.

In a separate bowl, stir together the key lime juice and the sugar.

Add that to the original egg mixture and stir well.

And when you're taking pictures, be sure to reapply nail polish!

Pour into your graham cracker crust and bake for 20 minutes at 325 degrees. Then, after removing the pie, turn your oven up to 350 degrees.

A note about the crust: when I was making this with my godsister, we followed some instructions on the crust package to make it "golden." This involved brushing it with an egg or possibly an egg yoke, baking it for about 5 minutes, and allowing it to cool completely before filling it. I couldn't tell the difference between a regular crust and a golden crust, but if you can, go for it!
Anyway, make your meringue and top your pie.