KEY LIME SOUR CREAM PIE

I had one of my Taekwondo classmates tell me that she had never had Key Lime Pie before. I couldn't believe it, so I just had to make one for her. Help her broaden her horizons. (I was really in the mood for some too, so it gave me a good excuse to make two!) I love just about anything that has to do with lime. So, off to the store I went to buy key limes. It takes about 1 1/2 bags per pie, so I had a lot of juicing ahead. I'm sure you can probably buy key lime juice, I just wanted to make this one from real limes to show her what it is supposed to taste like when it's truly made from scratch. 

I made this ahead, let it chill for at least two hours, then piped on the sour cream topping. I wasn't so sure about sour cream topping, I've never had it that way, but I thought I should try it.  It was really good. Gave a nice balance to the sweetness of the pie.

You can also see that this is slightly more green than it would be normally. I added a couple of drops (maybe 1 too many) to make it look a little more green. A couple more drops, coupled with this red pie plate and I could have made it for Christmas! I'll hold back on the green food coloring and only add 1 drop next time. It gets darker as it bakes.

The finished pie. It was delicious!!

KEY LIME PIE WITH SOUR CREAM TOPPING

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick butter) melted
• 2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup key lime or regular lime juice
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3-4 tablespoons powdered sugar (to taste)
• 1 tablespoon lime zest

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter with your hands. Press the mixture firmly into a greased 9-inch pie pan, and bake until brown, about 15 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, and eggs. Whisk until well blended and place the filling in the cooled pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, remove and cool on rack for 15 minutes then place in refrigerator 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.

Healthier version: substitute splenda for the sugar in the crust and then used fat free sour cream and fat free sweetened condensed milk.

Variation: skip the sour cream topping and use whipped cream with vanilla and a Tbs. of white chocolate pudding mix.

Tip: You can also add a couple drops of green food coloring to the filling. 1-2 drops is all you need, it darkens when you bake it.