The Beginning of Summer- Key Lime Pie!

Key Lime Pie isn't a euphamism for some fabric collection or fat quarter bundle.

Wait.

Maybe.

But nah. I mean, I really set out to write this about Key Lime Pie. The Dessert of Summer, in my opinion. It's my blog and I'll write about Pie if I want to. (Pie if I want to! Pie if I want to! You would pie too if it happened to you!)

All the excellent things I have to say about this deliciousness are below. Let's cut to the chase. Here's the recipe:

Key Lime Pie
Start to finish in kitchen: 30ish Minutes (15ish with pre-made pie shell)
Cooling time: 3 hours recommended (it's hard to wait, I know!)

For Crust:

• 7in Pie Tin
• 1.5 cups crushed graham crackers (crush with rolling pin or food processor)
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Zest of 1 lime
• 1t cinnamon, omit if using cinnamon grahams
• pinch salt
• pinch nutmeg

For Filling:

• 1/2 cup lime juice, plus more to taste (I always add an additional generous glug)
• 3 egg yolks, whites not used
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 375. Mix crust ingredients together in a bowl until well incorporated, wet crumbs should form. Press using hands or the bottom of a measuring cup into the pie tin. Bake for 6-7 minutes at 375. Crust will turn a slightly more golden color, but should not take on too much color. Turn oven down to 350 once the crust comes out.

Meanwhile, separate egg yolks and whites. Mix sweetened condensed milk and 1/2 cup lime juice together until thoroughly combined. Taste mixture to judge tartness level- add more lime juice to taste. I like my pies tart, so I usually end up using a good extra tablespoon or two of lime juice. I specifically use Nelly's Key Lime juice for pies, but have done everything from squeezed my own limes to using the regular shelf stable lime juice before. They all work, but have varying degrees of tartness, hence the need for tasting. Once satisfied with sweet/tart ratio, mix in egg yolks and mix to form homogenous mixture. Pour into slightly cooled pie shell. Bake in oven at 350 for 12 minutes. Pie will still be jiggily when done- take out and cool first on counter, then cover and place in fridge until ready to serve. 

Cover this guy with FOIL not saran-wrap- saran-wrap sticks to the top and kind of ruins the prettiness of the top of the pie. Trust me, I learned this the hard way. That's why the slice in the photo looks the way it does. 

Slice and serve. I'm not going to post nutrition facts because this is dessert, it's summer, and they don't count. Servings generally range from 1-8 servings per pie. 

Enjoy your Memorial Day however you choose to spend it! 

Oh.

But.

Summer. Key Lime Pie. Makes me think of one thing... my favorite color. Green! Even if the key lime pie isn't green because it's not made with Jell-O or food coloring. 
Did you know you can shop our store by color? Yep! We've tagged fabrics by color, or the combination of colors in them, so if you're shopping by color, just type it in the search box and away you go! Here's our ideas of selections for summer-y colors to get you started:

Yellow

Orange

Green

And are you a fan of seasonal quilts? Do you change the quilt on your bed with the seasons? I'm not a type A person or even really that organized (Well, the studio is, the rest of my life? Not as much.) but there's nothing that quite brings me the same joy as changing out quilts with the seasons. If you need a summer, fall, winter- heck, any season quilt, join our #ttlgsewsimple quilt and pick fabrics to go with the season! Details in the last blog, with more to come shortly. This is the summer quilt on my bed at the moment, by the way!

Alternatively, I'm pulling for another great summer-y looking quilt pattern by Keaton Quilts (shout out to a fellow New Yorker!) called East Village Vibrance. It's a super fun looking, simple sew that was designed to highlight NYC's East Village. Many sizes too, for those that like bigger or smaller quilts! (I go big!) They just finished a sew along for it not too long ago on instagram, so there's still tons of inspiration up for how other people tackled it and fun colors to use! In case you're wondering, that's Diane Keaton on the cover. Find the designer on IG @keatonquilts 

That's all for this holiday weekend, folks! Have fun, stay safe, hug your family, eat some good food, and quilt! I'll be back early next week with some more quilt along details for the Keep It Simple quilt!