This is a response to a comment below: the eggs in a key lime pie recipe don't have to be heated because they are chemically cooked by the acids in the lime juice. It's like when something is smoked.. it's not raw just not cooked with heat. I assure you you're not eating raw eggs.
My father was adamant that TRUE key lime pie had three very distinct qualities it was made with KEY lime juice and not just lime juice it was NOT green colored (sign of food coloring or geletin) and it wasn't smothered in whipped cream. This recipe is exactly how I remember this pie from his kitchen and from our trips to the keys. Delicious!
This recipe is great and authentic. Steve's key lime pie of New York does not ship their pies because of the difficulty of doing so. They instead recommend a 5 ingredient recipe (they don't give one) which this is. The two ingredients for the shell and the three for the filling. The recipe does need to be followed and the ingredients need to be fresh - no bottled or frozen juice. Any lime other than Key lime will give it a different flavor and not congeal the eggs and milk properly. Also it does need to be kept refrigerated in order to keep it reasonable solid. Real key lime pie will not be solid if left at room temperature for more than an hour. And yes the eggs are cooked by the citric acid.
I have not tried this particular recipe but have noticed that many recipes for key lime pie are not baked. How can this be when there are raw eggs in the recipe? I used a recipe on the back of a bottle of lime juice. It also said refrigerate..no baking necessary or bake for 15 minutes at 350. I baked it and it was great. Also used a graham cracker crust and fat free eagle brand condensed milk.
Come on people. Don't say a recipe is bad when you don't even follow it in the first place. LIME JUICE IS NOT KEY LIME JUICE! This is like substituting maraschino cherries for whole tart cherries. You might get lucky and save the dessert but you're not making the dessert you picked. This recipe is a standard real (yes it's not fake just because the ingredients are few) key lime pie recipe which makes one standard real key lime cake. Tips for people who are worried about their cake surface being lumpy/get lumps in their surfaces: hold the pan in both hands after pouring in the filling and gently shake horizontally to flatten it. Also overbeating this will give you little bubble craters in the surface. Good luck!
I used 3 egg yolks and 1/3 cup key lime juice. Set up very well after a couple hours in the fridge. I made a meringue with the whites beaten til stiff peaks then beat in about 1/2 tsp lime zest and 1/2 cup sugar. Spread the meringue on the filling taking care to stick the meringue to the crust all the way around or it will shrink back from the crust where it wasn't touching sprinkled a little more zest on top and baked it in a preheated 275 degree oven for about 20 minutes.
I only gave this 4 stars because there is a better version (in my opinion) that's similar but uses 4 egg yolks (not 2) and 1/2 cup bottled key lime juice (not 1/4 c). Then bake it @ 350 for 15 mins to firm it up. Let cool and serve with whipped cream. Everyone I serve it to says it's the best key lime they've tasted.
I made this with bottled lime juice to save time. Absolutely don't do that if you make this recipe; it wasn't good. It might be better w/real key limes. However the pie filling was runny (I did use the two egg yolks). I won't make this again even with real key limes. The best part of the pie was the mountain of Cool Whip we had to put on it to make it palatable. I recommend trying recipes for the real key lime pie. This was a waste; I'm glad I didn't make it for company.
Good but bf complained it wasn't limey enough and I increased the lime to 1/3 cup. I made a key lime pie about 3-4 weeks ago with the recipe from Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice and we liked it better. It is very similar except it uses 3 egg yolks 1/2 c key lime juice and is baked. I'm inclined to agree it was better than this one although this one is perfectly nice as well. Worries about whether or not lime juice cooks raw eggs aside (and I do believe those who say it does) you can use pasteurized egg substitute and not worry about it either way which is what I did. I didn't have any problem with this setting. It is a bit runny still but I think any key lime pie without gelatin is going to do that. I used the Mock Graham Cracker Crust from here and it worked well with the key lime filling. Thanks for the recipe!
