A Limey Summer

This has been the summer of key lime pie. At 'Cake Friday' (an event at WBL where each person in the manuscript department brings a cake for morning tea), I made key lime pie for my new colleagues. None of them had tried anything like it before, and everyone thought it was quite tasty. There aren't any graham crackers here, so I used ginger snaps, which worked perfectly to balance the tartness of the lime zest with the spice of ginger.

Tonight I made key lime pie again for my dorm-friend H, who's leaving tomorrow morning. It's such an easy pie that I don't bother measuring anything any more. After a quick Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion, we were all set! Here's the recipe:

Key Lime Pie
Serves eight

Lime filling

4 teaspoons grated zest plus 1/2 cup strained juice from 3 to 4 limes

4 large egg yolks

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Graham cracker crust

11 full graham crackers, processed to fine crumbs (1-1/4 cups)

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Whipped cream topping

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1. For the filling: Whisk zest and yolks in medium bowl until tinted light green, about 2 minutes. Beat in condensed milk, then juice; set aside at room temperature to thicken.

2. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix crumbs and sugar in medium bowl. Add butter; stir with fork until well blended. Pour mixture into 9-inch pie pan; press crumbs over bottom and up sides of pan to form even crust. Bake until lightly browned and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

3. Pour lime filling into crust; bake until center is set, yet wiggly when jiggled, 15 to 17 minutes. Return pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours. (Can be covered with lightly oiled or oil-sprayed plastic wrap placed directly on filling and refrigerated up to 1 day.)

4. For the whipped cream: Up to 2 hours before serving, whip cream in medium bowl to very soft peaks. Adding confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, continue whipping to just-stiff peaks. Decoratively pipe whipped cream over filling or spread evenly with rubber spatula. Garnish with optional sugared lime slices and serve.