Great Key Lime Pie
This is one of the best Key Lime Pie recipes I have ever tried. It is a favorite from Southern Living. Hope you like it!
This is one of the best Key Lime Pie recipes I have ever tried. It is a favorite from Southern Living. Hope you like it!
- Carbohydrate 174.19432475825 g
- Cholesterol 162.683333333333 mg
- Fat 73.2433044958333 g
- Fiber 4.59893931130413 g
- Protein 51.9204854092542 g
- Saturated Fat 40.5908604346833 g
- Serving Size 1 1 9-inch pie (899g)
- Sodium 1421.40842294208 mg
- Sugar 169.595385446946 g
- Trans Fat 9.91624250250832 g
- Calories 1521 calories
Step-by-step
- Combine first 3 ingredients; press into a 9-inch pieplate. Bake piecrust at 350 deg F for 10 minutes or until lightly browned; cool.
- Stir together sweetened condensed milk and lime juice until blended. Pour into prepared crust. Set aside.
- Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed with an electric mixer just until foamy.
- Add granulated sugar gradually, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until soft peaks form and sugar dissolves (2 to 4 minutes). Spread meringue over filling.
- Bake at 325 deg F for 25 to 28 minutes. Chill 8 hours. Store in refrigerator.
Bright green-yellow citrus curd meets a towering cloud of toasted egg whites inside a crisp graham cracker crust, offering a striking contrast of sharp acidity and pillowy sweetness. Making this dessert successfully relies on understanding how acid interacts with dairy proteins. When fresh lime juice hits sweetened condensed milk, the high concentration of citric acid naturally denatures the milk proteins, thickening the mixture into a smooth filling without requiring any gelatin or starch. Because this chemical thickening happens immediately upon stirring, the oven baking step serves primarily to set the structure rather than to cook raw eggs.
Judging Doneness and Meringue Stability
Unlike custards that rely on egg yolks for structure, this filling contains only dairy and citrus juice, meaning traditional doneness tests like a knife inserted cleanly do not apply. Watch the surface instead, as the center should lose its wet shine and appear set when gently shaken. Achieving a stable meringue requires patience during the addition of granulated sugar, which acts as a hygroscopic agent that binds water and prevents the foam from collapsing. Incorporating the sugar just one tablespoon at a time guarantees it dissolves completely into the egg whites, creating flexible soft peaks that will insulate the tart filling during its final stint in a 325 degree oven. Allowing the assembled pie to rest in the refrigerator for the full eight hours is mandatory for the crumb crust to absorb moisture and achieve sliceable stability.
- Weeping meringue typically indicates that sugar was added too quickly or did not dissolve entirely before baking.
- Shrinkage away from the crust edges happens when the meringue is applied to a cold filling rather than a warm one.
- Liquefied filling usually points to bottled juice containing additives that interfere with the natural acid-dairy protein reaction.
