Cool, refreshing key lime pie

This summer it’s hot. Really hot. Just too hot. That’s why I propose backing away from the oven, slowly and inching toward the freezer when it comes time to think about dessert.

This month, I’m making a frozen key lime pie that’s sweet, tart and coldly refreshing.

The pie is really easy to make, with just four ingredients — just three if you don’t count the premade pie crust.

But first, what’s a key lime pie? It’s the official pie of Florida and it comes in two varieties — frozen and (usually) baked.

Frozen key lime pies, like the recipe below, have just three ingredients: Key or plain lime juice, sweeten condensed milk and whipped cream. Whip it together, pour it into a pie crust, put it in the freezer and wait a day.

For frozen key lime pies, freezing is what makes them hold their form, although if they are left out too long, they will melt.

The other kind of key lime pie uses eggs as a binder for the pie filling and is baked before being refrigerated. But this summer is going to be a scorcher, so I think a freezer key lime pie works just fine.

Often key lime pies are half key lime filling and half meringue topping, which requires lots of work and adds a whole level of sweetness that seems to defeat the refreshing tart and sour flavor of the key lime pie.

So, what exactly are key limes? Also known as Mexican limes, they are the quarter-sized cousins of the larger, and very green, limes normally sold in the grocer y store.

Unlike green Persian limes, known ubiquitously as just limes, key limes and their juice are yellow when they ripen. The key lime rind is thinner and it often has more seeds. They are grown all across the world, not just in Florida.

A true key lime should be more yellow than green because ripe key lime juice is yellow.

This recipe calls for at least a cup of key lime juice. Purists will demand that the limes be freshly juiced and the juice can only come from key limes.

I demur on both these points. While not exactly the same, I think you can use either lime juice or key lime juice, just as I think you can use bottled juice instead of freshly squeezed juice, or even a combination. It takes more key limes than it does Persian or regular limes, to produce one cup of juice. This is because of their size and the

amount of juice they produce.

Frankly, I think you should mix and match and try various permutations and allow the capricious whims of what is in season, what is on sale and what is available to guide your juicing decisions.

Assuming that real limes are used, I highly suggest grating off some zest and throwing it into the pie mix.

KEY LIME PIE Ingredients

• 1+ cup key lime juice,

more if desired

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.) • 1/2 to 1 cup whipped cream (or substitute, like Cool Whip)

• 1 graham cracker pie

crust, 10 inches • Optional: 1 tablespoon finely grated key lime or lime zest

Directions

• In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk and the lime juice. Mix until combined. Add more lime juice for a tarter taste.

• Add the whipped cream to the juice and condensed milk and mix until well combined. Add more whipped cream if a thicker consistency is desired.

• If adding lime zest, mix it in. • Pour the mixture into the pie crust.

• Cover and freeze for 24 hours before serving.

Key lime pie can be made with various limes or just the juice, but key limes are preferred.