• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Casa Bouquet

let your joy bloom

  • Home
  • About
  • Culture
  • Home-making
  • Education
  • Travel
  • Style
  • Series
You are here: Home / Home-making / Key lime pie & passion fruit & other tropical pies

Key lime pie & passion fruit & other tropical pies

May 11, 2015 by Lisa Grable 2 Comments

(and passion fruit, and other tropical treats!)

Celebrations mean time for pie at Casa Bouquet. Key lime pie is a favorite and the recipe can also be used with other tropical juices. Try this with my coconut crust for an instant island trip!

key lime & other tropical pies

You will need a piecrust in an 8- or 9-inch pan (coconut, graham cracker, or pastry), a small mixing bowl and whisk, citrus juicer, and small bowls or cups for separating the eggs.

  • 3 egg yolks (large eggs). With two small bowls available, gently crack each egg in the center, open the egg carefully, and pass the yolk back and forth between the two egg halves, letting the egg white fall into one of the bowls. Place the egg yolks in the other bowl. You can discard the whites, save for another use, or make a meringue.
  • ½ cup Key lime juice. You can purchase Key lime juice (I use Nellie & Joeʻs, in the bar drinks section) or squeeze Key limes. At our grocery, they are in the tropical fruit section with the coconuts, star fruits, and mangoes. You will need to juice about a dozen limes. (I zest these first before juicing. I use the zest for another recipe – coming soon!)

key lime tools

  • one 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milkkey lime borden milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center. Place the egg yolks in a small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the full can of sweetened condensed milk. Whisk until fully combined. While stirring, very slowly pour in the Key lime juice. You will be able to see when juice reacts with the milk/egg mixture.

 

 

 

 

key lime eggs and milk   key lime filling

Pour the filling into the piecrust. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Refrigerate before serving. You can eat it as is, bake with a meringue, or serve with soft whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

key lime pie coconut crust

Variation: This method will also work with other tropical juices. I have found that you still need a small amount of Key lime juice to get the reaction to form the “curd” and for taste. I put 3 tbsp of Key lime juice in a liquid measuring cup, and fill to the ½ cup line with passion fruit juice. Try pineapple or guava or papaya juice.

horizontal bar with plumeria

Print
Key lime pie, and passion fruit, and other tropical treats!
Rate this recipe
3 ratings

15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Author: Lisa Leonor Grable

1 pie, 6-8 servings

Key lime pie, and passion fruit, and other tropical treats!

Ingredients

  • 3 egg yolks (large eggs). You can discard the whites, save for another use, or make a meringue.
  • ½ cup Key lime juice. You may use bottled juice or you will need to juice about a dozen Key limes.
  • one 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center.
  2. Place the egg yolks in a small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.
  3. Add the full can of sweetened condensed milk. Whisk until fully combined.
  4. While stirring, very slowly pour in the Key lime juice. You will be able to see when juice reacts with the milk/egg mixture.
  5. Pour the filling into the piecrust.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.
  7. Refrigerate before serving.
  8. You can eat it as is, bake with a meringue, or serve with soft whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Variation: This method will also work with other tropical juices. I have found that you still need a small amount of Key lime juice to get the reaction to form the “curd” and for taste. Put 3 tbsp of Key lime juice in a liquid measuring cup, and fill to the ½ cup line with passion fruit juice. Try pineapple or guava or papaya juice.
Recipe Management Powered by Zip Recipes Plugin
5.0
https://casabouquet.com/key-lime-pie/
Author: Lisa Leonor Grable at Casa Bouquet. All rights reserved.

Related links

  • http://www.epicurious.com/archive/seasonalcooking/winter/key-lime-pie
    • The Curious Case of Key Lime Pie from Epicurious
  • http://www.currymansion.com
    • The Curry Mansion bed and breakfast
  • http://pepeskeywest.com/full-width/pepes-history/
    • Pepeʻs Café and Steak house, Key West
  • http://www.keylimeshop.com/category/key-lime-recipes/desserts
    • Kermitʻs Key West Lime Shoppe
  • http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpies.html#keylime
    • Key lime pie history from Food Timeline
  • http://www.auntylilikoi.com/syrups-and-juices.html
    • Unsweetened passion fruit juice from Aunty Lilikoʻi
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp5TbwpCmxI
    • Oh Joyʻs pancake video shows expert egg separation

horizontal bar with plumeria

Letʻs talk story

Key lime pie was a very unusual treat when I was young. Key West once had key lime groves but a hurricane wiped them out in 1926. Now commercial growing of these tiny limes (Citrus ×aurantiifolia) takes place in Mexico, Brazil, and other Central and South American countries. You might read that there are no Key limes in the Keys, but residents grow them, just not in commercial operations.

key lime with lemon

Size comparison lemon with Key lime

Aunt Sally was the cook at the Curry Mansion in the 1850s and she is often credited with the first Key lime pie recipe. Hers had a graham cracker crust and was topped with soft whipped cream. The Keys did not have ice or refrigeration before 1930, so keeping milk or cream was a problem. A boon to cooks there was the invention by Gail Borden of sweetened condensed milk in the 1850s. This pie could be made without cooking, another bonus in the hot summer in the Keys.

The extra tart Key lime juice actually makes the egg yolk and condensed milk mixture seize up and form a pudding-like filling (which is yellow, not neon green!). Today, because of salmonella, you need to bake the pie for a short time to cook the eggs, or use pasteurized eggs if you want to try the pie without baking. Because the pie filling uses only egg yolks, you may wish to use the whites to make a meringue – just be sure to adjust your oven temperature and timing to cook both the pie and the meringue.

One of our best adventures was driving from Miami to Key West for a Thanksgiving vacation. Starting in Florida City, we tried Key lime pie all along the way through Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, and so on all the way to Key West. I highly recommend this trip theme, and let me know which pie is your favorite!

horizontal bar with plumeria
Affiliate links:  if you make a purchase using these links, I’ll receive a small compensation towards maintaining this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Related posts

Pie series Coconut piecrust Key lime pepper
Share this post:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

Filed Under: Home-making Tagged With: key lime, passion fruit, pie, recipe, tropical pie

Previous Post: « Lisa’s Home Bijou: Top Hat classic art deco musical
Next Post: Hawaii : Kauai overview, part 1 – Garden Isle beauty »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. marilyn1998

    June 5, 2019 at 8:36 pm

    Thank you for sharing at #ThursdayFavoriteThings. Pinned and shared.

    Reply
  2. marilyn1998

    June 1, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared.

    Reply

What are your thoughts? Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hey, I’m Lisa

Lisa Grable, Casa BouquetI’m an educator, grandmother, classic movie fan, sewer and crafter, and I love Hawaii. Read more about me …

Subscribe for email updates

Don't miss a post! Receive an email when new posts are published. Get freebies!

Please follow & like us :)

Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
Instagram
Follow by Email
RSS

Cottage & Bungalow giveaway 01.16 – 02.16.2021

cottage and bungalow giveaway sidebar image

Amazon

The Radiant One: A Story of Life, Loss & Legacy by Kauʻi Dalire

#thatsmykumu Kumu Kau’i Dalire has released her first book. From a family with 8 generations of hula legacy, she won Merrie Monarch’s Miss Aloha Hula and is a fierce mom, songwriter, athlete, world traveler, and entrepreneur. Read about finding strength after heartbreaking loss, fueled by hula and family.Dalire book The Radiant One

More posts in Home-making

mrs. beetonʻs book of household management

Recent Posts

piecrust coconut cookies

Coconut piecrust

Stay toasty giveaway

Stay toasty giveaway 02.20 – 03.20.21

Use muffuletta ingredients to make a savory cheese dip or spread. Flavors include cheddar and Italian olive salad. Similar to pimento cheese, muffuletta cheese dip is delicious on crackers, crisps, or bread.

Muffuletta cheese dip savory party Cheddar spread

Red beans and rice is a hearty, comforting Louisiana dish, perfect for Mardi Gras season. Smoked sausage and Cajun seasonings add flavor.

Red beans and rice for Mardi Gras

Posts by Category

Casa Bouquet parties

Over the Moon

Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party
Wonderful Wednesday
Thursday Favorite Things

Featured series

Casa Bouquet pie recipes series.
College planning posts for middle and high school students. Download free checklist, cost calculation, and career interest worksheets. Resource links!

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework · Design by Stephanie Jones