Key Lime Pie Ice Cream Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the key in key lime pie? ›

The dish is named after the small Key limes, which are more aromatic than the common Persian limes, and which have yellow juice. The filling in a Key lime pie is typically yellow because of the egg yolks.

Unless you live in the Florida Keys, key limes are near impossible to find. Furthermore, they're so tiny that you'd need to juice at least twenty of them for this recipe. No thank you! Ordinary limes make an exceptional Key lime pie, and they are a much better alternative to bracingly tart bottled Key lime juice.

This quick and easy key lime pie recipe starts with a graham cracker crust and is filled with a mixture of egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, key lime juice & zest.

The biggest culprit of a runny key lime pie is not letting it chill for long enough. Since this is one of those summer pie recipes that's not baked, chilling the pie helps it set and prevents it from being runny. Be sure to chill it for at least 12 hours!

The main difference seems to be that it requires a lot more of that aromatic Key lime juice to make the famous pie sing. It is worth the elbow grease, though, to get that true floral Key lime flavor—unless of course you can't find Key limes.

However, the dessert wasn't created in the Sunshine State, but by the Borden condensed milk company in New York City. Thanks to a wave of advertising by the condensed milk company, the recipe for Magic Lemon Cream Pie most likely made its way to Florida sometime in the 1930s and '40s.

Here's the science: The acid in the key lime juice reacts with the proteins in the milk to thicken the mixture. That's why you don't need to bake it. To be fair, there are lots of fancier key lime pie recipes out there.

One theory is that the treat originated from a sponge fisherman. Sponge fishing was a booming business in Florida and rations on the boat like sugar, eggs, canned milk, soda crackers, some nuts, and citrus fruit were cheap. Consequently, the fishermen concocted this tart, sweet treat and brought it on land.

Frozen custard is a frozen dessert that contains milk, cream, sugar, flavorings, and egg yolk. Like the U.S. regulation for ice cream, frozen custard is also required to have at least 10 percent milk fat, but also 1.4 percent egg yolks by weight. 3 Frozen custards also come in a wide variety of flavors.

Eggs add rich flavor and color, prevent ice crystallization and help create smooth and creamy ice cream.

Are Mexican limes Key limes? ›

Key limes—also known as Mexican limes or West Indies limes—are small, spherical limes that grow in tropical and subtropical regions. They're light yellow (not green) when ripe and contain more seeds than regular limes. Their skin is also very thin, which means they don't store well.

Remember that it will set up as it cools. If you do over bake your pie you will be able to tell as the top of the filling will crack slightly due to the proteins in the eggs overcooking and causing fissures.

Homemade Key Lime Pie: If you've prepared a homemade key lime pie, it will typically last around 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator. The freshness and quality of the ingredients, as well as the hygiene of the preparation process, play a significant role in determining its shelf life.

When preparing an authentic Key lime pie, either a graham cracker crust or a pastry crust is acceptable. As are both meringue and whipped cream for topping. The color, however, is not a matter of choice. Genuine Key lime pies are yellow.

The English word lime was derived, via Spanish then French, from the Arabic word ليمة līma, which is, in turn, a derivation of the Persian word limu لیمو. Key is from Florida Keys, where the fruit was naturalised.

It's generally accepted common knowledge that the Key lime pie was invented in Key West, Florida, where the key limes needed to achieve its signature tart taste grow in abundance.

Despite the lime's popularity in baking and flavoring seafood, the key lime growing region was mostly destroyed by a hurricane in 1926 and was never restored. Today the term “key lime” is a misnomer as many of the key limes found in the market are grown outside of the Florida Keys in Mexico and Central America.

In the United States, it is more common to find Persian Limes, after a hurricane destroyed most of Florida's Key Lime groves in 1926, reports Specialty Produce. Although "Key lime" is in the name for the pie, if you do not have access to Key limes, Persian limes can work in a pinch.