Key Lime Pie

By: Pete on 18:50:00

As I said yesterday, I had some spare pastry after doing the slices. I was originally going to do a lemon meringue pie, however I thought I'd mix it up a bit, and do a lime filling instead. I have a recipe for lemon meringue pie which I used as a base, so the only real question was how many limes equal one lemon. I went for 2 limes = 1 lemon, which in retrospect ws probably a little too much, as it turned out very, very lime-y. Probably 3-4 limes would have been wiser. It was still delicous, however...though it did somewhat overpower the stem ginger I popped in the mixture.

If I were doing this as a standalone recipe (as opposed to using up spare pastry from another recipe) I'd add some ground ginger to the pastry as well, to give an extra hit of flavour.

Key Lime Pie - Recipe

Pastry

See the pastry recipe for Pistachio and Blackcurrant slices

1) Pre-heat oven to 180'C

2) Line a 20cm tart tin with the pastry, and run a rolling pin over the top to trim the edges

3) Line the pastry with cling-film and baking beans/rice

4) Bake in the oven for 12 minutes

5) Remove the cling-film and baking beans, then return to the oven for 6 minutes, until the base of the pastry begins to turn golden

6) Turn the oven down to 170'C

Filling/Topping Ingredients

• Zest and Juice of 6 limes (note, probably just use 4)
• 400ml condensed milk (1 tin)
• 3 eggs (separated into yolks and whites)
• ½tsp cream of tartar
• 180g caster sugar
• 5-6 lumps of stem ginger

1) Place the condensed milk, zest, juice and yolks in a bowl

2) Whisk thoroughly to combine, until a smooth mixture is formed

3) Chop up the stem ginger into fine pieces

4) Add to the mixture and whisk to combine

5) Place the egg whites in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment

6) Begin to whisk the whites, and once it starts to foam add the cream of tartar

7) continue to whisk the eggs, and slowly add the caster sugar, spoon at a time

8) Continue to whip until stiff, white glossy peaks are formed

9) Transfer the egg white meringue to a piping bag with a large star nozzle

Assembly

1) Pour the lime mixture carefully into the pastry case

2) Pipe the meringue over the top of the lime mixture. I did a loop around the outside, then filled the middle with peaks

3) Place in the oven, and bake for 20 minutes. The meringue peaks should begin to turn a golden brown

4) Remove to a wire rack to cool.