Hi friends! I hope you are all doing good. Last week I bought a big bag of key limes, I used some for my key lime pie cupcakes but I still had a lot left so I decided to bake a pie, a recipe that my mom taught me when I was a kid.

This pie is super special to me, I always bake it when I want to find comfort in food. Last week has been mentally exhausting for me, my dad’s health has not been very good, his nurse left and my brother had to take my dad to ER (something not very good right now in Peru because covid cases are still high and we were told that if he got hospitalized it was very probably that he get covid and put him in risk). Anyway, it has been nerve wracking in any way you can think of but finally we found a new nurse for dad and she will start working this weekend. I wish I can travel to see them like I always do BUT I decided not to travel until I get fully vaccinated.

I hope your week is going better than mine and that if you feel down for some reason, go to your kitchen and bake this special pie! Thank you to everyone who sent me a message asking how my dad was doing, I really appreciate it!

If you want to watch how I made this recipe, visit my Instagram page @pastry_tales

Let’s start with the recipe.

Yield one 9 inch pie size. I think you can use an 8 inch pan.

Ingredients

For the crust

2 cups of crushed vanilla cookies (graham or nilla or animal crackers).

6 tablespoons of unsalted butter (melted)

3 tablespoons of granulated sugar

For the filling

1 can condensed milk

4 egg yolks

½ cup fresh key lime juice

For the meringue

4 egg whites at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 -1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract. I used clear vanilla by Molina

pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F

1.-Make the crust by stirring together the cookie crumbs, melted butter and granulated sugar. Press into the bottom  and sides of your pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Let it cool.

2.-While the crust is baking, make the filling. Whisk together condense milk, lime juice and yolks. Mix well until smooth and creamy.

3.-Once the crust is done, let it cool for 10 min and then  pour the filling evenly over the crust. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges start to brown and the top looks solid.

4.- Let the pie cool completely to room temperature and then place it in the fridge for 2 hours.

Before serving, make the swiss meringue frosting. I decided to use this kind of meringue because the egg whites are cooked, I know some people don’t like to eat raw whites in a frosting.

For the Meringue

1.- In a heat-proof bowl mix sugar, whites and salt.

2.- Now, place this bowl on top of a pan with a few inches of simmering water. Mix until it is foamy and you don’t see any leftover sugar granules. A trick to know if this mixture is ready is when you touch the mixture with your fingers and you don’t feel any sugar. This takes about 5 minutes.

3.- Transfer this bowl to your mixer and whip this mixture in medium speed for about 2 minutes. Then, whip it for about 5 minutes in high until stiff peaks form.

4.- Add in vanilla and mix in high for another minute.

6.- Scoop this meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a tip (I used a big round tip) and then make big dollops on top.

Now, you can toast your meringue using 2 methods: the broiler of your oven or a kitchen torch.

I use a kitchen torch to give the meringue a nicer color. If you have a torch, you are welcome to use it too.

Enjoy… and don’t forget to share this pie with someone you like!