TRADITIONAL Key Lime Pie recipe
A 5th generation Florida native teaches you how to make the ultimate Florida dessert -Traditional Key Lime Pie- with an extra posh twist of fresh ginger and a gingersnap coconut crust.
This is it.
As a 5th generation Florida native, I have made key lime pie more times than I can remember. Well over 100 pies. More? Probably.
It is my all time favorite dessert. The ultimate. The best. The Classic Key Lime Pie- Throw out all other recipes.
I’ve made this pie so sour it’ll turn your face inside out, but the crust so sweet and simple, you’ll want to make this pie over and over and over again.
Ingredients in Traditional Key Lime Pie:
fresh ingredients:
- key limes & Persian limes ( for garnish)
- large fresh eggs
- ginger
- heavy whipping cream
- unsalted butter
pantry ingredients:
- graham crackers
- gingersnap cookies
- sweetened flaked coconut
- sweetened condensed milk
- sugar, kosher salt
- confectioner’s sugar
- vanilla paste or extract
How to Make a Traditional Key Lime Pie:
The crust:
I took a page from the Tampa Junior League cookbook, Tampa Treasures, and added gingersnaps to the graham cracker crust. Then I added in sweetened coconut to give the crust a bite “chew”. Toss it all in a food processor with melted butter and a dash of salt for a fine crumb, press it into a pie plate and bake for a couple of minutes. Easy. You want the coconut to be finely chopped into the crust.
Don’t have a food processor. Chopped the heck out of the coconut and place everything in a heavy plastic zip top bag or plastic liner form a cereal box (go green!). Pound it with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbs.
The filling:
The biggest headache to this recipe is juicing the tiny Key Limes, which by the way are imported from Mexico. If you have an electric juicer, and you should, it takes maybe 8 minutes to juice a bag of limes. My Oster juicer is 34 years old- wedding present- and still works like a charm. Add to the juice, fresh grated ginger, a can of sweetened condensed milk and four egg yolks. mix well to incorporate all the ingredients.
Pour the lime filling into the cooled pie shell and bake for 5-10 minutes- or until the pie is just set. This is really to ensure the egg yolks do not give you food poising, but honestly, the lime juice cooks them- similar to a ceviche.
Pro tip:
Cool the pie on a wire rack for 15 minutes and then chill for at least 4 hours. The longer you chill the pie, the more intense the citrus flavors develop. Pipe on luscious whipped cream just before serving and call everyone to the table. The “oooh’s and ahhh’s” you will receive will life your spirits for days. Then go out and run a couple of miles to burn off the calorie count.
Equipment needed for Classic Key Lime Pie:
Common questions about Key Lime Pie:
Yes, but Key Limes, mostly grown in Mexico now, are slightly more floral and sour tasting than the standard grocery store Persian limes. Seek out the key limes if you can- ask your produce manager when they are in stock. Juice and freeze the juice for making more pies when the limes are out of season. Make certainty limes you buy are heavy and loaded with lots of juice.
Yes- it adds a wonderful scent and flavor, but omit it if you don’t love coconut. The food processor grinds it up very fine, so you hardly notice it.
You only want egg yolks to set up the filling. Save you egg yolks for a meringue topping or make a pavlova out of them for a later dessert. Egg whites are also fantastic in whiskey sours as a foamy luscious topping.
This pie will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Well, it’ll be more like my Atlantic Beach Pie and not really a key lime pie. But- yes, lemon juice would make a very nice pie.
Please for the love of all that is holy do not put Cool Whip or that stuff in the can on this beautiful pie.
Other Citrus treats to try:
- Key Lime Tiramisu
- Calamondin Pie
- Blood Orange Martini
- Classic Lemon Blueberry Tea Cake
- Florida Grapefruit & Cointreau Golden Cake
- Guava Grapefruit Cocktail
Authentic Key Lime Pie Recipe
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut
- 6 Sheets Graham Crackers
- 12 Gingersnap Cookies
- 6 TBSP Unsalted Butter, melted
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
For the Filing
- ½ cup Fresh Key Lime Juice
- 2 TBSP Fresh Key Lime Juice
- 14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 4 Large Egg Yolks
- 1 tsp Fresh Ginger , grated- heaping tsp
For the Topping
- ½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 TBSP Confectioner’s Sugar
- ¼ tsp Vanilla paste
- 2 tsp grated lime peel or zest
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 350 degrees, F
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the coconut, graham crackers and gingersnaps until they resemble coarse sand. Pour in the melted butter and salt. Pulse again until the mixture resembles wet sand. Using the back of a measuring cup, press the crumb mixture into a 9" pie plate and up the sides until the crust is smooth and evenly distributed. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-8 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, condensed milk, ginger and lime juice until thick and smooth. Pour into the cooled pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled, cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Once the pie is cooled, prepare the whipped cream topping. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla paste on medium low for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high. Whip until thick. With a scraper, spoon the whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with an Ateco 849 tip and another bag with a Wilton 1M tip. Pipe decorative florets onto the chilled pie. Garnish with sliced lime or lime zest. Serve chilled.
