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Sunday, July 02, 2006

Key (not) Lime Cheesecake Pie

This is one of the reason's for me choosing Rachel at Coconut & Lime as this week's Blog of the Week. She posted a most mouth watering, draw dropping recipe for her Coconut Key Lime Pie a while back and I've been thinking about it ever since. I've been a huge fan of Key Lime Pie since I was a little girl back in the 70's when my parents would take us for a month long vacation to Florida each winter. Back in the day when the restaurant was booming and we could afford a month's vacation. I can't even fathom that luxury right now. Hell I've got a week's vacation coming up next week and I'll be travelling to.. well.. my back yard, mostly. *sigh* Anyhoooo.. We'd start our vacation somewhere in the middle of Florida and slowly work out way down to Key West for the last 2 weeks. It was heavenly.. poolside all day, exploring Florida's beaches with my Dad, eating at restaurants every night and being allowed to have lobster as much as we wanted!! Holy crap I want to be little again!!

My most fond memories are of Key West. It was in this glorious tropical city (island?) that my mother introduced me to Key Lime Pie. At first I didn't want to try it.. it was not covered in chocolate, how could it be good?? But she persisted until I tasted it. She was happily surprised (as I was!) that I loved it and probably not as happy to watch me eat her entire dessert. Hey.. it was her fault. Since those years of vacationing in Florida, I've only had Key Lime Pie once or twice.. each time sorely disappointed when a slice of green pie was set before me. Green? Key Lime Pie is not green! Why, oh why, do some restaurants insist on adding food color to make a beautiful pie "more attractive"? Gah.

For years I've wanted to make this pie myself, but finding Key Limes in this part of the woods is pretty hard. The one time I did see them for sale at a local grocery store, I snagged them up and then let them rot in my veggie bin of the fridge. What the hell was wrong with me?? Sheesh! Unfortunately, time got away from me in that instance and since then I've not seen a single Key Lime offered anywhere. Well, again, in reading Rachel's blog, Key Lime Pie has been foremost on my mind and yesterday I said to myself that I was going to make this delicious dessert regardless if I did not have any Key Limes. I also wanted to re-create her Coconut Key Lime pie in the worst way, but Hubbs put the kabosh on that the minute he saw me take a bag of coconut out of the pantry. There are only a few foods that he refuses to eat and coconut is one of them. :( I put the coconut back (reluctantly) and decided that when he goes back to Arkansas (yep.. they are sending him back for a week or two to take care of an issue that the corporation decided they wanted done - AFTER - our guys left.. bastages.) I will make Rachel's Coconut Key Lime Pie.. oh yesssss I will. I decided then to try the other Key Lime Pie recipe I had found on the Kraft Foods website, which was more of a cheesecake/pie recipe.

The pie turned out to be absolutely delicious. Creamy and tangy, but not exactly as I remembered from my days in Florida. I'm assuming it's because of the use of your every day lime.. they are not as mellow as Key Limes and a bit more acidic, I believe. But still.. wow, what a fantastic summer dessert! I also made a raspberry sauce to spoon over it and the taste of raspberries paired with the lime was outrageous. =)

Key Lime Cheesecake Pie
Key Lime Pie

1 1/2 c. graham crackers, finely crushed (The original recipe calls for 1 1/4 c. graham crackers, but I like my crust to be thick, so I upped it a bit)
1/4 c. butter, melted
3 TBS. sugar
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened, condensed milk
1/2 tsp. lime peel, grated (I upped this to a tablespoon)
1/3 c. fresh lime juice

Preheat oven to 350ยบ F. Mix crumbs, butter and sugar; press firmly onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes. Cool.

Beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add peel and juice; mix well. Pour into crust.

Refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.

Raspberry Sauce
1 bag of frozen raspberries, thawed (or use 1 pint of fresh raspberries if you have them)
3 TBS. of sugar (Or to taste)

Place both ingredients in a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat until the sugar melts and the raspberries start to break down. You can stop here, or if you prefer seedless sauce, mash raspberries through a sieve into a bowl, so that just the juice remains, discard pulp & seeds. Cool and then refrigerate.

Spoon over slices of Key Lime Cheesecake Pie.

Key Lime Pie with Raspberry Sauce

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Comments on "Key (not) Lime Cheesecake Pie"

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (7/03/2006 9:57 AM) : 

Fantastic, Lisa!

And I agree with you, I hate it when restaurants add green food colour!

 

Blogger jasmine said ... (7/03/2006 8:31 PM) : 

Hi Lisa

I adored key lime pie since I first tried it a few years ago.

Unfortunately, I've only seen the fruit in my local grocer's once in the past three years, so I've begged and bribed friends and colleagues to bring me some "real" key lime juice when they return from Florida vacations.

Great post!

j

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (7/03/2006 11:19 PM) : 

Legasp! Totally delicious looking - I love the addition of the raspberry sauce!

 

Blogger Lis said ... (7/04/2006 8:25 AM) : 

Ivonne - thank you! And yes, why the hell do they do that??

Jasmine - aww thanks so much for stopping by and leaving such a nice comment! =) And what a great idea regarding the bribing of friends to bring the key limes home for you. lol I really do hope I can get my hands on some when it comes time to try that Key Lime Coconut pie I want so badly. :D

 

Blogger Lis said ... (7/04/2006 8:27 AM) : 

Ellie - thanks sweetie! I really liked that addition as well. I originally saw the pairing of key lime pie and raspberry sauce at a local chain restaurant. Although their pie was horrid, the sauce was fabulous and worked so well with the tanginess of the limes ;)

 

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