Culinary Indecision….and a Key Lime Pie Recipe

I’m having a couple of girlfriends over tonight for coffee and dessert.

You know in life sometimes when there are people that you think would be so much fun to get to know better?  Every time you see the person/people, you completely connect and walk away thinking… “I really wish my life wasn’t so crazy right now because I’d really like to get to know_____________ better.”  Well, that’s how I feel about these 3 girls I invited over tonight.  Every time we’re around one another we say “Let’s get together soon” and then we don’t do it.  But we all really mean it too…it’s completely genuine, it’s just a matter or schedule rearranging and prioritizing.  Anyhow, I just flat decided the other night it needed to happen…so it is.  Tonight.

There was a recipe that I found a few days ago for a Four Layer Blueberry Gingerbread Cake with Mocha Cream that looked interesting.  I thought it sounded like an odd combination… but might be one of those things that after eating it, I’d wonder to myself why I never thought of the genius pairing of blueberries, and gingerbread, and mocha cream?!  I decided to step outside of my own personal don’t-ever-make-something-for-company-that-you-haven’t-tested-before box and whipped it up today.  By the way, that is a link to the recipe above.  It’s from the Foster’s Market Cookbook that I adore.  Anywhooo…I made the cake, and I have to be honest and say that it’s a fantastic recipe, but I don’t really love it.  I will make the cake again and the cream again, but I won’t put them together.  I think the blueberry gingerbread cake needs a lemony vanilla cream, and the mocha cream…well, it just doesn’t need gingerbread in my opinion.  Feel free to try it and tell me what you think….you may think I’m insane, but you may agree.  Don’t get me wrong…it’s fine…I just won’t make it again as is.

Looks alright though huh?

Since I’m not unbelievably thrilled with this cake, I decided to make something that I DO know is good for my eagerly anticipated company….

And this is a recipe that I like enough to bother typing out for you.  I’ve had key lime pie all over the place and this tart, creamy, classic is still my favorite.  I’ve tried variations with fancy additions, but honestly…some oldies but goodies are best when you leave well enough alone.

To make key lime pie you’ll need: 

a graham cracker crust (sometimes I buy them, sometimes I make them.)

• Today I made it with 6 Tbsp melted butter, 3 Tbsp sugar, and 2 c. crushed grahams.  Mix together, press into a pan and bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes.  Let cool before filling.)

For the filling:
1 – 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 c. key lime juice

Now you can get all fancy and buy key limes and squeeze and zest them if you want, but I’ll have my pie nice and easy thank you, so I just buy the juice in a bottle.

Mix the 3 highly technical ingredients in a bowl til creamy.  Pour into your prepared crust and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Then chill it…several hours (as in no less than 4)… til nice and fabulous.

That is it….and IT is amazing.  A lot of times I even put perhaps 2/3 c. key lime juice to make it extra tart….because that’s how I like it.  Oh yeah, my pie pan is super deep dish so I had to double the filling recipe to make a nice full pie.  If you use a standard shallow pie shell though, one recipe should do it.

I was on a roll today too I guess because when i had half a dozen egg whites remaining, I remembered a recipe I saw recently for macaroons and thought I’d just try them as well while I had a mess in the kitchen.  So Tid Bit helped me make a much bigger mess, and in about an hour or so once that mixture is nice and cool, we’re going to give them a shot too.

After tonight I’ll be farming out leftovers.  Heaven and my thighs know that I don’t need all this stuff here!

Now go forth friends and make Fish Tacos and Key Lime Pie….I just helped you rock your next dinner with very minimal effort!

You are welcome.