In The Kitchen | Key Lime Pie

I love baking and I especially love making pies (see my #Jessicas100pies on Instagram to view past pies!) I usually go with a flakey crust and custard filling, but for Adam’s birthday weekend, I decided to make his favorite - Key Lime Pie. The recipes I used were so easy and the result was tangy, sweet and silky. If you’re a newbie to pie making, I bet you could tackle this recipe! 

Graham Cracker Crust (original recipe here)

- 1 ½ C graham crackers

- 1/3 C sugar

- 6 T melted butter

Start by tossing your graham crackers into the food processor and get them pretty well crumbled. Add sugar. Slowly add melted butter until the mixture clumps up a bit. Transfer to 9″ glass pie dish and evenly press to bottom and sides. Using glass will help you hold the dish up to the light and see if you have any holes!

Bake for 7 minutes at 375. Let cool completely before filling. 

Key Lime Filling (original recipe here)

- 3 14oz cans of sweetened condensed milk

- ¾ C key lime juice

- ½ C sour cream

- 1 T freshly grated lime zest (about one lime)

Combine all ingredients and transfer to cooled graham cracker crust. I like for a little bit of the crust to show around the edges, so if you’ve used a smaller pie dish, you might have a little filling left over. Bake for 6 minutes at 350. Watch closely! Don’t let your pretty pie get brown. 

Let your pie cool on the counter and transfer to the fridge once at room temperate. To garnish, slice a lime with your mandoline (be careful!) and layer over the top of the pie. To serve, slice and add a dollop of freshly whipped cream (heavy whipping cream with a little sugar and dash of vanilla). 

Happy Pi Day

WhatIWore: Happy Pi Day! While math lovers start reciting the digits of π, I’m thinking of breaking out my rolling pin! Inspired by my Aunt Barb, I have a goal of making and documenting 100 pies. There’s no time crunch and I only have nine down (and deleted one photo by accident, but I think it was another blueberry), but, hey! what a tasty challenge.  I use my grandma Schroeder’s recipe, which has been passed down to me by Barb. The crust makes all the difference!  Read on for the recipe! Above photo, Barb’s beautiful pies for my sister’s bridal shower in 2013.

My pies: Blackberry Custard, Banana Cream, Peach Custard, Blueberry Custard,and Hickory Nut, Bourbon Pecan, Pumpkin and another Bourbon Pecan Follow my hashtag #jessicas100pies on Instagram! 

Ingredients for Crust:

• 3 C flour (we used King Authurs’ unbleached)
• 1 stick of butter flavored Crisco
• 1 t salt
• 1 egg
• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 6 T ice water

Start by measuring your flour and salt into a bowl.  Using a pastry blender, work your Crisco into the flour until it is well blended.  Use the wrapper of your Crisco to grease your pie pan. 

In a separate bowl, combine egg, vinegar and water. Add to flour mixture.

With a spoon, blend ingredients until combined and form into log.  Cut into three equal pieces.

Prep your rolling area.  Barb uses a cotton cloth that’s been stored in the freezer and dusted with flour to roll on, plus a cotton sleeve over the rolling pin.  The combo of cool tools and flour helps the pie crust to keep from sticking to the rolling cloth. 

Form your pie dough into a disk with your hands and begin rolling.  The 1/3 portion of our original recipe will be the correct thickness when rolled large enough to fit a 10" pie pan.

*Pro Tip: Use a pastry scrapper to gently separate the rolled dough from the cotton surface, starting at the top edge. I like to place my pie dish on the counter above the pie for an easy transfer. It also helps me to let the dough rest on the rolling pie as I move it over! 

Once you’ve centered the dough onto the pie dish, trim about to about ½-1" from the edge of the dish.  Fold under and crimp edges.

This recipe works for any kind of pie filling! It’s light and flakey and delicious!I use the Fanny Farmer Cookbook (a post college grad gift that’s come in very handy!) for filling recipes. For custards I bake all of the ingredients together at 425 for about 40 minutes - keeping an eye on the crust (I use a pie shield to protect it from over cooking!) and watching for it to become golden brown. Read your filling recipe for specific recommendations on over temp and cooking time.