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Cheater’s Key Lime Pie

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

Comments

  1. 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

    Reply

  10. 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!

    :)Thanks for sharing
    Doreen

    Reply

  11. 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’.

    Reply

  12. 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.

    Reply

  20. 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… 😉

    Reply

  22. 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

    Reply

  24. 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.

    Reply

  29. 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

    Reply

  31. 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!

    Reply

  35. 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!

    Reply

  36. 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.

    Reply

  37. 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.

    Reply

  48. 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!

    Reply

  53. 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.

    Reply

  54. 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 🙂

    Reply

  56. 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.

    Reply

  72. Alchemedis pronounced al-kem-e-d-es. I was debating on a male name like that for the neopolitan mastiff I was going to get. Almost any of the god names will achieve that. Even a name like revolution. I found this site if you want to take a look.

    Reply

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