Pie Time!

I hope that y'all don't mind me using a quote from this year's Next Food Network Star for the title of this blog post. But this post really is all about pie. Today is my dad's birthday and he LOVES key lime pie. So I did all of this as a super secret b-day surprise. Hope that this turns out good.

Miss Molly's Key Lime Pie

Daddy's Slice

Ingredients for graham crackers:

(recipe borrowed from Smitten Kitchen: 
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/05/graham-crackers/)

2 1/2 cups+ 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp kosher salt

7 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into cubes and frozen

1/3 cup mild flavored honey

5 tbsp milk

2 tbsp pure vanilla extract

white sugar, for sprinkling

Combine the flour, brown sugar,baking soda and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade or an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. pulse or mix on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off until the mixture looks and feels like coarse meal. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla. Add to flour mix and pulse on and off or mix on low until the mixture just comes together. It should be soft and sticky. Lay out on a piece of plastic wrap, wrap it, and put it into the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350º, depending on what kind of oven you have. After chilled, flour an open work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about a quarter inch thick. IT WILL BE HARD. Cut dough to whatever size that you like, lay on a baking sheet covered in parchment, and sprinkle with sugar (lightly). Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until browned and are slightly firm to the touch.

These are great soft or hard, depending on your liking, or for using in recipes like Key Lime Pie (below). And hold back your husbands and children, because these will go very fast (you might have trouble resisting yourself).

Hey, someone took a bite of that one.

Ingredients For Graham Cracker Crust:

1/2 recipe of baked graham crackers (above) about 1 1/2 cup

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tbsp sugar

1 egg white (save the yolk!)

Preheat oven to 350º, depending on what oven that you plan to use. Spray or butter a pie pan. Process all of the ingredients together in a food processor until it starts to come together. Press evenly into pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before adding filling (below).

This is what your pie shell should look like.

Ingredients For Key Lime Pie Filling:

One 15 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 key lime juice 

4 egg yolks

zest of 1/2 a lime

Preheat oven to 350º.  Whisk ingredients together well. Pour into cooled pie crust. Bake for 17 minutes, or until the filling jiggles slightly when wiggled. Cool for 1 hour on counter then put the pie into the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Don't you wish your pie was hot like mine is?

Note: We used a 9" pie pan so the filling was a little low.  In order to make up for this DOUBLE the filling recipe and add to your pie shell.

-Molly