mango/key lime pie!

I finally found my inspiration this weekend to make something new (that was worth posting about)! So, last fall when I was on vacation in Florida, we had like 3 key lime pies (there were 7 of us) and they were delicious. If you don't know this about me, key lime pie is my favorite dessert. Ever. So, when my brother was there again last month, he emailed me and said he had some mango key lime pie. Say what? Say: Yum!

Since then, we've talked about trying it sometime, but haven't gotten around to it until today. Oddly enough, this is my first time making key lime-anything... and being that it's my favorite, I'm a little surprised myself. Maybe I thought it was one of those things that I want to keep as a special eat out food. Who knows.

What I did is probably enough for two pies, but with reason. I got these cute little pre-made graham cracker crusts (6 in a pack, about 3 inches in diameter) and then used the rest with a homemade graham cracker crust to make some bars. It worked out swimmingly. I basically used this recipe from Food.com for guidance, but made it a bit different. Here's what I ended up with:

Mango/Key Lime Pie
1/2 c. mango puree
1/2 c. key lime juice
2 - 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
6 egg yolks (no whites)


[[Yep, that's it. Just four ingredients]]

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a blender, puree mango (I used about one mango - leaving a little for me to snack on - it equaled 1/2 c.) Add lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks and blend to mix well. Pour into your pie crust.

Bake. I used 15 minutes for the small ones, and 20 minutes for the bars. If you do a regular pie, I would do 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for 15 minutes before putting into the refrigerator to cool. Then, put in the refrigerator and chill until just before you are ready to serve.

This was the type of key lime juice I used:

My notes:

• The original recipe said to put diced mangos into the mixture, too - but I didn't want the chunks in it. I bet it's good though!
• Those little pies are super handy and a good size to share - but you can't really stack them, so they may be hard to travel with for a party - the bars would be better for that, or a regular-sized pie.
• The bars I made were just graham cracker crust on the bottom and this mixture on top. Simple.
• You can put whipped cream on top... but I didn't. I like it straight-up. :)  
• I did, however, garnish them with lime wedges - I sliced a lime and cut the pieces into quarters. I dipped them white sugar (well) on both sides and put them in the freezer until I was ready to serve soon - and then stuck them on top of the little pies (see photo above). The sugared limes were tasty!
• I made my homemade crust using the recipe from Food.com that is in the original pie recipe. It made more than I needed, so I asked the peeps on the Allrecipes.com message board, and they said I could refrigerate the leftover and it keeps well... and to use it as crumble with pudding, yogurt, or ice cream. Great ideas! So I did - and I sprinkled a little bit on top of the bars I made.

It was really good. Keith said the one he had in Florida was a little more "lime-y" but that this was really good. I thought it was really yummy, and will definitely make it again.

I linked this to Sweets for a Saturday.