Today I bestow upon you, my handful of devoted readers (and the remainder of you whom I have guilt-tripped into reading this blog), the cutest thing I have ever made, nay, quite possibly, the cutest thing ever. Ok, ok, these pies aren't the cutest thing ever because the creatures have already claimed that title. C'mon:
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Sometimes they do things that are so cute it
actually makes me hate them just a little bit. |
These pies are pretty darn adorable nonetheless. When I took them to a BBQ, they were met with many "squees" and "oh.my.gods!" And when I brought some to work, I learned an important life lesson - the road to workplace popularity is paved with bite-size pies.
This is my go-to key lime pie recipe baked in mini muffin tins that I lined with homemade graham cracker crust. Gather 5 limes (as previously noted, it's not necessary to deal with the hassle of using key limes), graham cracker crumbs, unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, and sweetened condensed milk. The recipe below makes two dozen lil pies.
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| As usual, I doubled the recipe, so this picture contains more ingredients than you will need. You'll only need 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 5 limes, one stick of butter and 3 eggs. |
Measure 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs (you can buy the crumbs or use a food processor to crush the crackers into a fine powder). In a small bowl, mix 1/3 of a cup of white sugar with the crumbs. Then pour 6 tablespoons of melted butter over the crumbs and mix with a fork until all the crumbs are wet.
Line a mini muffin dish with paper liners, or brush them with butter. The paper liners were easier for cleanup, plus they gave the crust a nice zigzag edge. Using a rounded teaspoon, spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the crumb mixture into the cups. Roll the rounded bottom of the teaspoon around the bottom of each cup, pressing the crumbs up along the edge and packing the crumbs together as you turn the spoon. It is much easier to use a round object to form the crust than to use your fingers. I imagine pressing a shot glass into each cup may also work, if it is the right size, but I didn't have a shot glass to test this theory.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees as you finish forming the teensy crusts. Bake for 4 minutes (not 5 minutes, not 3 minutes...trust me, I tested both out. After 5 minutes, the crust becomes too dark, but after only 3 minutes, the crust does not stay together. It's science...).
While these are baking and cooling, zest 5 limes, cut them in half and juice them until you have 2 teaspoons of zest and 1/2 a cup of lime juice. Make sure to get all the delicious pulp into the juice because it adds a lot of flavor.
Mix the lime zest and juice with one 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk.
Then add three egg yolks and mix until it is blended thoroughly.
Next, spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filling into each cup until the filling reaches the edge of the graham cracker crust. The filling doesn't puff up, so it is fine to fill them all the way.
Reduce the oven's temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. Let them cool, then refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove the paper liners (because you don't want anyone mistaking these for cupcakes, god forbid!). Then place them in a box lined with hot pink gingham tissue paper because OHMYGODTHESEARESOCUTE!
Seriously.
Finally, make whipped cream. Using the Kitchenaid stand mixer
that was totally worth all the money you spent, whip 1 cup of heavy cream on a high speed until it is thick. As it mixes, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla.
I put whipped cream on 2/3 of the pies and left 1/3 without. Surprisingly, the whipped-cream-free pies were pretty popular (but not as popular as the pies with whipped cream, because that would be insane).
I tried meringue on a few, but it didn't turn out quite right. The meringue didn't adhere to the filling, so it fell off after they baked. They looked nice before I put them in the oven, though:
I was really on a roll with my tiny pies and itty-bitty meringues, so I even attempted to make candied lime zest as a garnish. There I was, saying to myself "eat your heart out, Martha," when I tasted one of these and realized (bitterly) that I had better stick with the things I am good at. So candy is out. Even if the zest hadn't tasted horrible, it wouldn't have been worth the effort I put forth just to make a garnish.
Key Lime Pie - makes 24
Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup of white sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix crumbs and sugar, then pour in melted butter, stirring as you pour. Press the crumb mixture into lined or buttered mini muffin tins, using the method described above. Bake for 4 minutes.
Filling:
One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake pies on middle rack for 10 minutes. Remove, let cool and refrigerate overnight (or at least 3 hours).
Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Mix heavy cream on medium-high heat, adding sugar and vanilla as it mixes until the whipped cream thick. Pipe onto the chilled pies before serving.
