Looking for the Perfect Key Lime Pie

The first three weeks of November

we spent in Key West

At a wonderful house with this wonderful view

And a pretty sunset every evening!

On this trip to Key West

I decided that I would find the

perfect

Key Lime Pie

 Key Limes

Found on the Florida Keys

Little limes, these

And every restaurant has Key Lime Pie on their menu

It was my duty to find the best!

Happy Tales

Not a restaurant but a place that sells frozen Key Lime Pie

The Fish Camp at Geiger Key Marina

Topped with whipped cream and a lime wedge

(but a Persian lime wedge!)

Pepe's

More whipped cream, 

Another wedge of Persian Lime

And a cinnamon graham cracker crust

Pincher's

A bit of whipped cream, a really creamy pie

And another Persian lime wedge

Latitudes

The first pie with meringue

Presentation was A+

DaVinci's

A real cheesecake instead of Key Lime pie

And you don't need to go to Florida for Key Lime Pie

For stores even in our little town has Key Lime Juice for sale

and in January

You can find bags of Key limes in the market

And if you want, 

You can use regular Persian limes in your pie

The recipe is a simple one:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (from about 10 crackers)

3 T. sugar

2 pinches salt

7 T. butter, melted

Filling:

3 large egg yolks

14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

2/3 c. fresh lime juice

For the crust, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt into a medium bowl and stir until mixed.    Add butter and stir until crumbs are evenly coated.     Press crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of a standard 9 inch pie dish.     Bake at 350 until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.    Set on cooling rack while you make your filling.     

For the filling:   Beat egg yolks with an electric mixer until pale and thick, about 5 minutes.    Add sweetened condensed milk and beat until thickened again, about 3 minutes more.     Whisk the lime juice into the yolk mixture until combined.     Pour into graham cracker crust and bake pie for another 10 minutes, until set but not browned on top at all.     Let pie cool.    Top with sweetened whipped cream if you want.

And I would add the zest of those limes that you juiced although most of the pies that we ate didn't have any zest in them.

Oh, and I bet you're wondering which one won?     I must admit that no two pies tasted alike.    Oh, they were all lime but some were sweeter than others, one did add cinnamon to the crust (which I didn't care for).    

The winner?

Fish Tales!

The very first one!

And this winter, when it's cold and snowy outside

And there are Key limes in the market

I shall make a Key Lime pie

and have happy thoughts about our trip to Key West

(and wish I was there once again!)