Best Ever No Bake Key Lime Pie

There’s nothing like a Key Lime Pie and the no bake version is equally delicious! My Best Ever No Bake Key Lime Pie is loaded with that delicious tart key lime flavor. Not only do I add key lime juice, but also a lot of zest!

What we call Key Lime or Mexican Lime is actually native to Malaysia and brought over the New World by the Spanish. This is the lime known in Cuba and made famous in the Florida Keys.

Who created the Key Lime Pie? Well there are a few claims to fame. One version credits William Curry’s cook, Aunt Sally in the late 1800s. She adapted it from a lemon ice box pie and due to lack of refrigeration or ice, Aunt Sally used Borden’s sweetened condensed milk and local key limes. Back then recipes were passed down and rarely written. According to Southern Living magazine, a Key Lime Pie recipe couldn’t be found prior to 1949, but a nearly identical one (using lemons) was found dating back to 1931. That recipe, Magic Lemon Cream Pie, was created in New York. The Miami Herald has not been able to verify Aunt Sally’s claim, but the article created quite a debate. The one thing we can agree on is Florida put Key Lime Pie on a global map. And it’s not Key Lime Pie if you don’t use Key limes.

Key limes are much smaller than regular limes. While fresh is best, it may not be available or you may not have time to squeeze so many little limes. My go to choice is Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice. It’s excellent and authentic.

HERE’S HOW I MADE IT
For a truly no-bake version, you can either buy a pre-made graham cracker crust pie shell at the grocery store, or you can mix the ingredients below and chill the pie shell for a couple of hours. Since I prefer a baked pie shell, the instructions are below. Nothing compares to the toasty flavor of the graham cracker!

TO BAKE THE GRAHAM CRACKER SHELL Preheat oven to 350°F, place oven rack in the center and butter a 9-inch pie baking dish or tin. Set aside. In a food processor, blitz a sleeve of Grahams crackers with 3 Tablespoons of packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup pecans. Drizzle in 4 Tablespoons of unsalted melted butter. Dump into a buttered 9-inch pie dish and gently press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides using your hands. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

While the Grahams cracker crust is cooling, make the filling. Make the whipped cream first by combining 1 1/2 cups cold heavy whipping cream with 2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar to stabilize the cream. Whip until stiff peaks form, 1-2 minutes and set aside. Don’t over whip or you can end up with butter.
Note: Stabilizing the whipped cream helps keep longer in the refrigerator. Freezing the mixing bowl for 20 minutes produces a better whipped cream. If you don’t have time to freeze the bowl, stabilize the whipped cream and place it in the refrigerator immediately and take out when ready to use.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup of Key Lime juice, 1/4 cup of cream cheese and the zest of 1 1/2 regular limes until thick and creamy and cream cheese has completely incorporated.

Fold in half of the whipped cream and pour mixture into the cooled crust. Spread evenly and chill until set, at least a few hours, preferred overnight.

Pipe the remaining whipped cream on top and decorate with lime wedges. Zest 1/2 regular lime over the pie. Slice and serve! This pie is just a perfect bite – creamy, sweet, tart and crunchy. This is my kind of pie. Enjoy.

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker’s recipe.