My Kingdom for a Key Lime Pie

N o actual monarch said those words, alas, but if they’d ever had my key lime pie, they might’ve. Before we go any further: No, I did not use true key limes for my pies. Purists may heap scorn upon me, but America’s Test Kitchen (the last word in baking, if you ask me) says that actual key limes are both expensive and difficult to find. Also, their expert taste-testers couldn’t tell the difference between pies made with key limes and pies made with the more easily obtained Persian limes. So I rest my case.

There are, apparently, many recipes for key lime pie. Some involve whipped egg whites, others are no-bake. However simple or fancy you prefer your pie, ATK is firm about one ingredient: fresh lime juice. Limes are notoriously hard to squeeze, and I find them nearly as difficult to zest, but some desserts are worth the sacrifice — even if the zester goes after your knuckles.

My first foray into the world of key lime pie was on a whim, and I already had the star ingredients on hand thanks to my passion for fresh ginger ale. My sister’s husband had asked if he could invite some of his colleagues over for dinner and received two enthusiastic “yeses” — one from my sister, who is eager to make friends in her new city, and one from yours truly, who never passes up the opportunity to throw a dinner party.

After some rearranging of the night’s dinner plans and a quick run to the store, I had everything necessary for macaroni and cheese, BLT sandwiches, and key lime pie. The pie, of course, needed to chill, so I got to work smashing graham crackers for the crust and stirring up eggs, lime juice, zest, and sweetened condensed milk for the filling. While all the components were resting or cooling, I went to tidy the house. Suddenly, a massive thunderstorm exploded overhead. This sounds a little dramatic, but it really did happen. When I was growing up, we’d often lose power during big storms (and often at other random moments — squirrels never learn to stay away from those transformers), so even though it was a tad too early, I started cooking bacon and boiling pasta water.

It rarely hurts to be proactive, but in this case, it made for some rather dry mac and cheese. Next time, I’ll know better than to double the recipe without putting in extra milk, and that a pound of pasta isn’t totally necessary to feed five people. The BLTs turned out well, though, and even slightly dry mac and cheese can be salvaged with a topping of toasted panko and parmesan — and, of course, there was the promise of pie.

First, though, I needed to make the whipped cream topping. This is a fun process to do by hand, but since it’s rather noisy and I’m afraid of annoying my neighbors, I generally use my immersion blender’s whisk attachment back home. Here, however, I had no such constraints, and to the delight of my fussy nephew — who quieted down immediately when I started — I beat the cream into submission and light peaks in just a few minutes.

Spread it artistically on the set pie, sprinkle some lime zest over the top, and there before you is a pie worthy of ATK itself — if I’d remembered to take a decent picture. Regardless, it was light and tangy, with just a bit of crunch from the graham-cracker crust, and it pleased my sister to no end.

Thrilled with my first success, I took the next opportunity I had to make it again — which was only a few days later — for the family of some of my students. This version featured a gluten-free graham-cracker crust (for the benefit of my tasters), and since I feared that the young kids in the family wouldn’t like the tartness of the pie, I made a batch of brown sugar cookies to bring along as well. These, incidentally, were delicious, but be careful: They required 14 tablespoons of butter.

This pie travels well, and upon reaching my destination, I repeated my hand-whipped topping method for an appreciative audience. I was, however, wrong about one thing: The younger children didn’t have a single complaint about the pie’s tartness and ate it with relish.

This pie might please a king, but it’s much more rewarding to bake it for family and friends.