This month’s Key Lime Pie, with its lip puckering citrus zing, fits the brief perfectly for a Springtime recipe. However, as I write this, the weather outside remains cold and miserable. Let’s hope it improves but, if not, this delicious, easy-to-make pie is sure to bring a little bit of Spring into your home.
INGREDIENTS
For the base:
- 150g digestive biscuits
- 65g butter
- 25g demerara sugar
- 1tsp ground ginger
For the filling:
- 4 large limes
- 400g can of condensed milk
- 300 ml double cream
METHOD:
- Crush the biscuits in a food processor or by placing them in a plastic bag and giving them a good whack with a rolling pin until they resemble breadcrumbs.
- Melt the butter and stir in the biscuit crumbs, sugar and ground ginger. Spoon onto the base of a 23cm loose-bottomed tin. Spread out the crumbs and press down to form a flat and even base.
- Leave to set (about 15 minutes).
- Finely grate the zest of 1 lime and put to one side for decoration.
- Into a large bowl, add the condensed milk, double cream and the juice of the 4 limes. Beat until thickened and well blended.
- Pour onto the prepared biscuit crumb base and smooth the surface. Chill in the fridge for several hours, until set.
- Gently remove from the tin and decorate (I used 125ml of whipped cream piped over the top and scattered it with the reserved lime peel but, if preferred, simply sprinkle the top of the pie with lime peel and serve with a spoonful of crème fraiche.)
There are many ways to experiment and adapt this recipe – why not use plain chocolate biscuits in place of digestives to make a chocolatey base? Or Amaretti biscuits as an alternative twist.If you want to adapt the filling – try using 3 lemons in place of the 4 limes for a different citrus hit.
Recipe by Pauline Mardell
