If anyone knows key lime pie, it’s my mom. Born and raised in southern Miami with the Keys as her backyard, she’s a third-generation Floridian and the best gourmet-at-home chef I know. Her maiden name is even Baker, so you know she knows what she’s doing in the kitchen.
Even as a born-and-bred Floridian, it took me a while to take a liking to key lime pie, but now I have a deep appreciation for this most Floridian of desserts—the zesty bite of key lime balanced by the cool creaminess of the pie and sweet graham-crackery crunch of the crust. Whether I’m dining in Florida or somewhere in the Caribbean, if there’s key lime pie on the dessert menu, I’m ordering it—and comparing it against the holy grail that is my mom’s key lime pie.
My Mom’s 3 Secrets to An Authentic Florida Key Lime Pie
When I asked her the secret to her authentic Florida key lime pie, and she was willing to spill, I knew I had to share. Turns out, her secret is threefold:
- A graham-cracker crust—must be thick and must be homemade (a pastry crust for a key lime pie is sacrilege in my family)
- Bake the crust 6 to 8 minutes before adding the pie ingredients (but don’t bake the pie)
- Properly measured, good-quality key lime juice
Of course, as you’d expect, that last one—the key lime juice—is, well, key here.
According to my mom, the key lime juice can be fresh or bottled (Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice is on Amazon—hooray for anyone who doesn’t have a constant supply of fresh key limes in their local Publix!) but the important thing is that it has to be real key lime juice. A key lime is different from a traditional lime, and traditional limes won’t cut it here.
Also note that a traditional key lime pie filling is made from three simple ingredients: sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and key lime juice. Key lime pie purists like my mom won’t hear of recipes with cream cheese or sour cream—an authentic Florida key lime pie should be silky and custard-like, not dense or cheesecake-y, and doesn’t require baking.
Skye Sherman
Mom’s Recipe Mix
As far as my mom’s exact recipe? Hard to say. It’s some divinely inspired marriage of recipes she’s saved over the years and tends to vary slightly each time she makes one. She pulls out her recipe box and references one from a Miami friend dating to the 1980s, one by pie chef Larry “Fish” Fisher of the iconic Florida restaurant Joe’s Stone Crab, and even one from Ganache Bakery owner Jamal Lake, whose teeny tartlets she loves to make for dinner parties or as bite-size gifts for friends. Her process is a little sentimental and a lotta love.
More Secrets from Mom
Other secrets? She pretty much exclusively uses fresh eggs from her local chicken-raising friends in all her recipes, and she always tops her key lime pies with whipped cream—never, ever meringue. Her whipped cream is always made fresh as she slices the pie (never from a can!) and she makes it very lightly sweetened with pure cane sugar and a touch of vanilla extract to add a sweet, creamy finish to the pie without overpowering the bright, tart flavor.
One final note: If your key lime pie is green rather than a soft buttery yellow, something has gone very, very wrong.
Credit:
Skye Sherman
