Key Lime Pie

Last month Eric and I took a little Floridian 9 day vacation to visit his parents. We enjoyed some of the lovely humid and beach-going weather. We took a small overnight trip to one of the most beautiful beaches, Siesta Keys in Sarasota. While we were there, we did a little Man v. Food excursion because I'm always on the hunt for good eats and it sounded like fun to eat at the same places as shown on the Travel Channel. I remembered that Adam Richman had said Yoder's Amish Restaurant served the best homemade pies. Everyone was intrigued and hungry for a wonderful slice of pie. We all ordered a slice of pie, and the one that left us wanting more was the Florida Key Lime pie.

Florida Key Lime pie is a simple mixture of a couple of things: condensed milk, eggs and Florida key limes. Those key limes are smaller than regular limes but have a very distinct flavor - very tart and sometimes bitter. However, when you mix Florida key limes in a pie...oh baby, it's sweet and tangy and oh so creamy. I searched high and low for a comparable recipe for Yoder's Amish Restaurant. Emeril Lagasse's recipe came up first in my search engine, and it had high reviews. I put my trust in Emeril's pastry chef, and our taste-testers (family) had approved the Key Lime Pie. Sweet, creamy and tart..it instantly brought me back to the beaches in Sarasota.  Enjoy!

**Don't forget that I have a Rick Bayless Cookbook giveaway, enter to win here!**

Key Lime Pie
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse
1/3 of the box from graham cracker
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick butter) melted
2 (14-ounce) cans condensed milk
1 cup key lime or regular lime juice
2 whole eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lime zest

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a food processor, add the graham crackers, sugar and butter and pulse into a coarse mixture. Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie pan, make sure to spread the crumbs evenly. Bake until golden brown about 17 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before filling.

Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

In a separate bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest and eggs. Whisk until well blended and place the filling in the cooled pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, combine the sour cream and powdered sugar and spread over the top of the pie using a spatula. Sprinkle the lime zest as a garnish on top of the sour cream and serve chilled.

Review: This was also the first pie that I have made myself, so I was pretty pleased with the results. This was a pretty close recipe - it was a mixture of things - velvety, smooth, equally sweet, and tart. My graham cracker crust on the other hand was a little burnt because I think I overcooked it from my new oven. Make sure to check on your crust between the initial baking time between 15 to 20 minutes. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the sweet reminder of Sarasota, and this definitely peaked my interest in making other pies, too.