Key Lime Pie with Pretzel Studded Crust and Coconut Whipped Cream

Perfect Pairing: Juicer and muscles

 

Key lime pie is the perfect summer dessert.  It is also one of the easiest pies to make.  I suppose you could complicate it by adding a meringue or fancy ice cream layer, but why mess with a good thing?

I have been making key lime pie for years, but this time I changed it up a bit by adding pretzels to the crust, and then topped it with coconut whipped cream instead of plain whipped cream.  Everyone loves a little salty/sweet action, so the pretzels were a great addition.  The base is still mainly graham cracker crumbs and the pretzels just add some texture and flavor contrast.

 

Obviously this is called KEY lime pie, but I discovered you can absolutely use regular limes.  Key limes are tiny and it would take you a very long time to get one cup of juice. 

If you can put your hands on one of these old school plastic juicers, snatch it up immediately!  I think I got this as a freebie in a bag of lemons years ago.  I have the fancy hinged model, but the free plastic juicer is my absolute favorite.  It gets every last bit of the lime juice.  This is important now since the price of limes is at an all-time high.

 

It also doesn’t hurt to have some muscles in the kitchen to help you squeeze the limes! 

 

Instead of topping this with regular whipped cream (which would still be amazingly delicious), I used coconut whipped cream.  I noticed this trend on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.  All you do is chill a can of coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight and then scoop off the hardened layer at the top and whip that with a little powdered sugar.  It has a very tame coconut flavor, but it totally adds to the tropical taste of the key lime pie.  Another tip is to chill your mixing bowl and beater before whipping the cream. 

I think I need to make this again. Soon.

 

One year ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Quinoa Produce Salad

Two years ago on Perfecting the Pairing: Shrimp with Feta and Tomato Sauce

 

Key Lime Pie with Pretzel Studded Crust and Coconut Whipped Cream 

Lindsay at Perfecting the Pairing

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:

• 7 graham cracker sheets, broken into small pieces
• ½ cup pretzels
• 6 Tb butter, melted
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cans (14 oz, each) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup lime juice (key lime if you can find it)
• 2 eggs
• 1 can coconut milk (not light), chilled overnight in refrigerator *do not shake
• 2 to 3 Tb powdered sugar 

Directions:

Place your mixing bowl and beater in the refrigerator to chill.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Add the graham crackers and pretzels to the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until they are reduced to fine crumbs.  Add the melted butter and sugar.  Pulse until just combined.  Pour the crumbs into a pie plate and press evenly up the sides and center.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until set and golden.  Allow to cool.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.  In a large bowl combine the two cans of sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and eggs.  Whisk until smooth and fully combined.  Pour into the cooled crust.  Bake for 13-17 minutes until set.  Let the pie cool, then chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Remove the mixing bowl and beater from the refrigerator.  Open the can of coconut milk and carefully scoop out the hardened layer at the top, leaving the coconut water at the bottom of the can.  Transfer the hardened coconut milk into the chilled bowl.  Whip the coconut milk until it begins to thicken.  Sprinkle in the powdered sugar and whip until stiff peaks form.  Serve with chilled pie and keep whipped coconut cream chilled.

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