With a title like the one posted above, I bet you couldn't wait to click over here and see what it was all about.
Today is PI DAY or п Day. Pi, the mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle's circumfrence to its diameter...a decimal representation that never ends or repeats. When a circle's diameter is 1, its circumfrence is Pi (п).
However, if you are a food blogger, it means literally, YOU MAKE PIE. So I did.
I made Cheater's Key Lime Pie. It seemed so fitting as I'm sure math is cheated on the most in school.
However, as Wikipedia claims..."fascination with the number (п) has even carried over into non-mathematical culture". Is food blogging one of the cultures they are referring to?
Anyway, as I wrote about in my quest for a juicer, squeezing Key Limes can be tedius. Most pie recipes require anywhere from a half-a-cup to a cup of Key Lime juice. It's a lot. My Key Lime Cupcakes require only a couple tablespoons of the juice which is completely doable. But a cup...it's a lot. However, there really is no substitution for the freshly squeezed juice so it basically comes down to how much time you want to spend squeezing.
As a result of being short on time, I consulted Real Simple Magazine's, Fake It Don't Bake It, section. Low and behold, Key Lime Pie. Perfect. No squeezing. Whew.
However, I did make my own graham cracker crust, but you could easily buy one to make this even quicker.
So, Happy Pi Day. Make sure you get out and eat a giant slice, or make this one, it won't take long.
Let's make this together...
Here's what you will need: Graham cracker crumbs, butter, granulated sugar, heavy cream, limeade concentrate, sweetened condensed milk and and lime zest.
In a medium sized bowl combine, 1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, 6 Tablespoons melted butter and 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9" pie plate with the bottom of a glass. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Cool completely.
Place condensed milk, limeade concentrate, lime zest and heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until fluffy and soft peaks form.
Pour the filling into the pie crust and smooth the top. Refrigerate until chilled and loosely set, about 4-6 hours or overnight.
Garnish with slices of lime and more zest.
The best part.
If you are like me, you can't wait for a pie to chill and then you have pie ooze.
It still tastes good.
Cheater's Key Lime Pie
Inspired by Real Simple
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
6 Tablespoons butter, melted
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
6- ounce can frozen limeade concentrate (not thawed)
1 cup heavy cream
Zest of one lime or several key limes, more for garnish
Lime slices, for garnish
In a medium sized bowl combine, graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar. Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9" pie plate with the bottom of a glass. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Cool completely.
Place condensed milk, limeade concentrate, lime zest and heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until fluffy and soft peaks form.
Pour the filling into the pie crust and smooth the top. Refrigerate until chilled and loosely set, about 4-6 hours or overnight.
Garnish with slices of lime and more zest.
What I Was Cooking One Year Ago Today: Whiskey Glazed Corned Beef
Hi Cathy .. looks absolutely delicious & for my waist & hips … I’m so glad it’s not in front of me .. as I’d be guzzling it right down ..
Thanks – my mouth is watering .. Hilary: Be Positive Be Happy
That pie looks to die for!! Really tempting! I’m drooling now…
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh, I’ve always wanted an easy key lime pie recipe that actually tastes like it and I think this one just might. I love the homemade graham crust also.
Thanks Cathy!
Looks yummy and easy!
I made peach pie with a french crumb top and home-made vanilla (Thomas Jefferson’s Recipe) ice cream.
I may have to make this one today too.
Pie OOOZE.. I love it.. How funny are you. What a pretty picture to wake up to this morning, this pie!! Yum factor is huge here, gargantuan!
I love your site!
I will be back often.
I’d love to have some pie on PI day!
I love the ooze! This looks delicious.
This looks scrumptious! I am definitely going to make this..I’m headed to the grocery store later..and lime juice is now on the list….that’s the only thing I don’t have or I would be making this now!
Doreen
Pi is not a decimal number whose digits never repeat, but rather a number that can not be represented as a ratio of two integers, thus an irrational number.
Your definition while not wrong is not complete as there is an implication that if written in another number base perhaps the digits do repeat.
And as everybody knows it is not ‘Pi r squared’ because everbody knows ‘Pi r round’.
I am reading this first thing in the morning, and my mouth is watering for that tangy fresh lime juicy bite of pie. Your pictures say 1000 words…YUM, YUM, YUM.
Delicious and delightful! Only a true foodie would ever take Pi Day so literally as you have. I like that one can use limeade for the juice, too. Very convenient!
anything lime and I am there! This is on my list to make.
That pie looks amazing!! I love key lime pies and I’m sure I would love this one… it’s so rich
The key lime pie looks insanely good! Yum!
Happy Pi Day to you as well! That pie is so pretty with all the zest sprinkled on top of it.
What a nice way to celebrate! And the limes are fitting for the green holiday coming up!
I will find any excuse just to make and eat pie…so PI Day? Yeah, Pie Day.
My son just came to the table hungry for breakfast (where I am typing) and I asked what he wanted to eat. He pointed to the Cheater’s Pie pictures and said, “THAT!”
Don’t blame him a bit…
Okay – does it mean I am a geek if I actually got your title before you explained it?
That pie looks fabulous – thanks for the recipe!
It looks absolutely delish, Cathy! Sometimes cheating does no harm and is preferable to the alternative … along the white lies can be acceptable line of thinking. LOL I will have to make a gluten-free variation of this to share with my MIL (she is a key lime anything devotee). As soon as my oven is back in commission …
Thanks,
Shirley
You sure got my attention. Beautiful pie and terrific photos as always.
Key lime pie! My absolute favorite dessert! I ate my way through the Florida Keys on key lime pie once. I’ll probably never make the cheater’s version, because I get some sort of satisfaction out of squeezing all those limes. But, thanks for the reminder that this would be a great thing to bring to the office on Tuesday – and much easier than those iced shamrock cookies I was thinking about.
That looks really good. When I make key lime pie I use the bottle key lime juice it’s easier than using the real limes
I am so gonna have to try this one. I love key lime pie!
I forgot it was pie day! Last year I baked for Evil Chef Mom’s pie day!
I wouldn’t be able to wait to eat it either! I love key lime pie!
Oh, this post makes me happy! I love Key Lime pie, & I’ve also been known to throw back a Key Lime martini or 2.
Those pictures make my mouth water…
Yes, and because it is an irrational number cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction which is why its decimal representation never ends or repeats.
It’s also a transcendental number, meaning no finite sequence of algebraic operations on integers (powers, roots, sums) can be equal to its value.
But there is a reason I didn’t get into all that….it’s a bit Geek-sta for this site
I love Key Lime Pie too but yes it can be tedious. We all need a quick version sometimes, okay all the time.
Awesome photos too.
Happy Pi Day.
I’ve never been a key lime person, but you could easily fix that!
Made your chow mein last night. Husband almost loves you more than he loves me now.
Thanks for all the great food!
Oh yum! Again!
My youngest came downstairs this morning and wished me happy pi day.
Oh, this is a favorite and very popular pie among my family. I think I’d cheat for this pie too.
Cheers,
elra
This looks like a pie full of sunshine! Considering how craptastic the weather is lately, this would be a great way to brighten things up.
Happy Pi Day!
This recipe looks dangerously good!! Key lime pie is a perfect pie in my book, so tangy yet creamy. Oh man, and that graham cracker crust is just delicious, too! Perfect Pi Day celebration!
I usually use Nelly and Joe’s lime juice for my key lime pie, but I may have to try this. My husband adores key lime pie, but truthfully he only trusts key lime pie if it has a greenish tint so I’ve resorted to green food coloring so he can really enjoy his pie.
That’s beautiful Key lime pie, Cathy! It looks just as delicious as any I’ve seen in the Keys (and I’ve seen a lot)! Don’t know if you’re aware of this, but you can buy bottled Key lime juice, which is a very good sub for fresh. Nellie & Joe’s is a good brand. I usually squeeze a few fresh ones and then use the bottled juice for the rest.
Great Pie! I made a Key Lime Pie last year and it was bitter. Cheating sounds like a better way to go!
Happy Pi Day — and what a great pie to celebrate with. My husband is a Key Lime Pie fan and he’ll love this easier version.
I wouldn’t be able to wait for it to chill either, it looks so delicious! I love key limes.
well, you did a lot better than me in preparing pie for pi day. and what a terrific holiday it is.
Oh yeah! Love the key lime – and I don’t even mind squeezing all that juice. This looks perfectly scrumptious.
That looks so good! I like pie better than Pi!!
Key Lime Pie is one of my favorites. Thanks for the great recipe.
Pi day, huh?
Think it has the power to cure the common cold?
I love a good key lime pie — and if it’s quick & easy all the better!
Looks amazing! love the colours.
That pie looks so pretty and refreshing!
I’m good with pie ooze! I believe I also mentioned that we’re celebrating Pi Day, with pizza pie and then real pie. Pizza, of course, is a good excuse for me to make everyone else assemble their own dinner, then I bake it, and everyone tells me what an awesome cook I am!
That’s my tried and true key lime recipe!! I usually can’t wait till it sets either!!
I could easily eat this with a spoon, no need to slice it. The hell with chilling it!
I missed pi day
too busy baking cupcakes for the school fair. That key lime pie looks wonderful, I too could eat it with a spoon happily!
Great results for such little work. Really nice, Cathy.
I’m the only baker who didn’t make pie today (I made cupcakes). I didn’t even notice today was March 14th! I just want to say though that I LOVE you for not adding green food coloring to your Key Lime pie.
Looking at this pie makes me wish I was in the Florida Keys wearing flip flops and listening to Jimmy Buffett songs. I’m usually wishing that anyway, but this just intensifies it
Oooh, this looks too good… yummy!
I got into a major argument with my 7-8th grade math teacher on that subject. He insisted it was 3-1/7.
He was wrong, not even knowing what an irrational number was. He was also the shop teacher and very good at it. His course was the sum total of my training in carpentry or drafting.
As an aside Carl Sagan wrote a novel, Contact, in which it is discovered that millions of digits into Pi it becomes something else.
I ♥ KEY LIME PIE! I’m puckering just thinking about it!
ooh that looks yummy, and you alwasy present stuff so prettily!
Absolute Heaven!
I’m OK with cheating…in cooking of course!! Looks light and decadent..just the way I like it!!!
Oh my! you have me drooling over here.
Now, that looks delectable!
Be still my heart. Oh, for joy.
Pi day and Square Root day in the same month is such sheer joy!
Actually National Pie Day is January 23rd…
easy as pie
easy as 1 / 2 3
I LOVE lime! That looks delicious!
Oh yes yes yes!
Wow! I love key lime pie. This one looks fabulous!
Did anyone ever suggest getting the juicer attachment to the Kitchenaide mixer?
This cheaters pie sounds right up my alley!
This is the same cheaters pie I make.
Oh, thanks for sharing! We love key lime pie – but I agree, getting your hands on key limes sometimes can be tricky. Great substitute!
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