White Chocolate Key Lime Endeavor with Macadamia Crunch

This recipe is incredible. I have made it multiple times now and it is a family favorite. To solve the "too much butter" debate once and for all. It is NOT a typo but you do need to use real white chocolate (I use Ghiardellhi brand) and make sure to melt it very slowly over a double boiler. If done correctly all of the butter is absorbed smoothly into the chocolate. I made a variation of this recipe that turned out wonderful today. I cut down the lime juice by maybe 1/8 cup and added about 1/2 cup or a little more pureed fresh strawberries. The result is a tangy strawberry lime endeavor that is just out of this world in taste!!! I have also added 2 pureed peaches to the lime juice and an additional egg. That version was wonderful too.

How could I not be tempted by a recipe with such an enticing name? I set upon to make this with great anticipation. Unfortunately, because of some problems I encountered, I can't rate this recipe highly. First, I think it's fair to say most will interpret a 9" pie pan to mean Pyrex. And even if not, since it would be at least fair to say they MIGHT use a Pyrex pie dish, the recipe should warn that freezing (or even chilling) the dish, then putting it into a hot oven, is not recommended, as it would invite a potentially serious accident of a shattered dish. This cautionary advisory is important! I chose to use an 8" square metal pan. Next, my years of baking experience should have alerted me that baking the crust 25 minutes is too long. So long that I threw out an expensive, over-browned crust and started over. Fifteen minutes was more like it. The butter/chocolate filling blended nicely, but just as I feared, once baked with the filling much of the butter melted and pooled at the top. I had to sop it up with paper towels. This was the ultimate deal breaker for me. To sum up the final result, the crust was tough and salty (I have not seen unsalted macadamia nuts - almonds would be a cheaper and no-salt option), the chocolate /butter filling too rich - like eating a stick of butter. The overall flavor was good, but largely due to the Key Lime pie filling. One could accomplish as good or better result, easier and cheaper too, just making a Key Lime Pie.

This pie has excellent flavor and is ALWAYS a huge hit with family and friends everytime I make it. The only thing I change is completely omiting the butter in the white chocolate. It is 100% unnecessary. A good quality white chocolate is the only thing you need. I use 1 1/2 (= 6 oz) Ghirardelli's white choc. baking bar, or find any couverture chocolate. DO NOT use chips! They won't melt into the satiny liquid puddle of yumminess you want, and you will have a big gloppy mess. Also, be very careful when melting chocolate in your double boiler. One tiny droplet of water in your chocolate and it will seize.

This recipe took me most of the day to make with having to freeze and bake and freeze and bake etc. BUT, it was SO-O-O-O worth it. I used only real lime juice and no concentrate, which makes a BIG difference in the flavor. I made it in an 8x8 square pan in bar form instead of pie, and it worked perfectly. If you have to impress them at the potluck and you have time to make it, bring this. I have never had any key lime anything that was this delicious.

I'm sorry to say I had very poor results with this pie. I love key lime pie and was sure this would be a fantastic one. Now I am wondering if the 8 tablespoons of butter you mix with the white chocolate is a misprint. That is way too much butter, the white chocolate could not incorporate it. When I melted it and poured it into the pie crust it was already separating and the baked pie was positively swimming in butter during baking. There was a pool on top when I pulled it out of the oven, that I had to sop up with paper towels. I also thought the crust was much too gritty, like crunching gravel. For all the time I spent I was so disappointed. I've since then read that butter should never be mixed with melted chocolate, but should have been melted with one tablespoon of shortening.

After searching forever for a good key lime and chocolate recipe, I happened upon this one and tried it. Fabulous! I made it with dark chocolate instead of white and turned out great. I also tried using half of the macadamias and adding pecans to the crust for a little different twist and that was good too. The possibilities are endless.

Insanely delicious! My whole family LOVED this key lime pie for Father's Day and even my dad (super critical) raved about it! I had no problems melting the chocolate w/butter in a double boiler, but it took some vigorous stirring to get it to combine. I would cut the chocolate/butter part by half though, as it created a very thick layer of chocolate that was hard to cut through. I would also add another half recipe for the pie crust, but we like a thick crust on our pies. But this recipe is perfectly good as is, too!

This was delicious! Time consuming, but well worth it. The only problem I had was that some of the butter floated to the top, but I also didn't let the white chocolate mixture set all the way before baking, and I believe that was the source of the extra butter.

This pie is amazing! I'm not even a big key lime fan and I loved it! Those who like key lime will drool.

There is something really wrong with the reciepe. 8 tablespoons is far too much. All that butter melted and floated to the top. The pie ended up tasting like eating a stick of butter. Big waste of time.

Fantastic! We loved it. Little bit of work, but well worth it.

Wonderful taste combination! The 8 tablespoons of butter with the white chocolate was too much - I would definitely reduce it. I also added chopped macadamia nuts and toasted coconut as a topping over the whipped cream.

"WOW"

I made this recipe and thought the amount of steps for each part were within reason. I did cut back to 4 T of butter for the chocolate layer. I used white chocolate chips which was a mistake. I should have went with my intuition to just melt them but I didn't. The texture of the white chocolate layer was odd because of the chips but it tasted fine once it was all baked. The key lime layer was delicious and tart. My only is the amount of butter that seeped up from the white chocolate layer during baking. It was a little off-putting but I stuck with and the bars turned out fine. People enjoyed them.

After making this a few times I have finally decided that the white chocolate layer does not add to the quality of this pie. The macadamia nut crust is wonderful, as is the filling. So much better than the commonly found graham cracker crust. I topped with whip cream and extra mac nuts. If the white chocolate is really a must, then I think drizzling some over the top would be much better.

This was fabulous! The chocolate layer was genius. I left out the butter in the chocolate layer like someone suggested and it was fine. I will be making this again.

This recipe is delicious and I don't even like keylime. Got great reviews! Big hit and I've made it three times everyone loves it!

After reading the reviews about the butter/chocolate separation I wasn't sure if I should waste my time. I thought the recipe was great! To use up the extra egg whites, I added a meringue topping with chopped macadamia nuts, instead of the whipped topping.

A big hit at our dinner party! Delicious

this pie rules

Made this as is but used bottled key lime juice. Whipped up some fresh cream to top it and it was wonderful! Family really liked it. The white chocolate on the bottom does make it a little hard to cut through the crust but you can cut through it and it does give a nice blend of sweet with the tart lime. Will definitely make again but may toast some coconut to sprinkle on top of the whipped cream and possibly add to the crust too.

Made for a large family reunion and these were a huge hit. Everyone wanted the recipe.