Key Lime Love

My sweetness, Kris loves key lime pie. I must say I am not a fan - I hate tarty deserts, but I decided to make one for him after much begging on his part.

I am not sure how Key Lime Pie is supposed to taste because I avoid all lime flavored items - especially Sour Patch Kids. Yuck. He seemed to like it. It was SURPRISINGLY easy to make! I mean I have had many mishaps and this turned out ok. I used a recipe from Good Housekeeping "Best Loved Desserts" book. My cat, King Alobar, helped. :-)
Here is the recipe:

1. first make a graham cracker crust. Super easy. just mix crushed graham crackers with melted butter and smooth onto a greased pie pan. I used glass - I have no idea if a glass pan is better than a teflon one. Let it cool before adding the filling.
   
2. pre-heat oven to 375. In AZ use a lower oven heat because of altitude apparently(??). I set mine at 350.
   
3. grate the zest (peel) of 6-8 key limes and then juice them. I used regular for lack of availability. mix the zest (2 tsp) with 1/2 c of lime juice. Then add one can of condensed sweetened milk (14oz) and 2 large egg yolks. Beat all this with a mixer until it thickens. IT WILL NOT BE GREEN! If you want green add food coloring.
4. THEN mix the 2 egg whites (you will need to separate the eggs if you haven't figured it out - THAT was THE HARDEST PART. I am hideous at cracking eggs - I had to fish out a couple egg shell pieces and then I messed up separating about 4 times. hideous!) Mix at high speed until they are like hair mousse-like and stand up in peaks and horns (think Something About Mary!)
5. Add the egg whites to the other mixture with the limes and gently fold them in using a spatula.
   
6. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake 15-20 minutes. add whipped cream on top if desired. I had mine on side.
   
7. I also made a cutie-cute heart out of lime peel and put it on top with some lime zest. CU-UTE!!

Suggestion: next time I am going to add marscapone underneath (the cream they use in actual fruit tarts which I guess is really considered a cheese...) I think that would add a nice texture and break up the extreme limey-ness.

TAA-DAAA!