Before you ask, I’ll answer. No, I don’t know this Jen - she’s apparently Alison’s cousin. I do, however, know a few of my own Jen’s, including one who is a dear friend. She lives in Spain and teaches theater and is a great dancer and has an infectious, fun-loving spirit. I miss her. But my Spain Jen didn’t inspire this recipe. Alison’s Jen did, which means that Jen must be pretty great, too.
This pie was just delicious. The balance of sweet, sour, and slightly salty was absolutely lovely, and I can’t wait to make this again. The results were great, but about the process—I have questions!
Step one, making the graham cracker crust, is rather straightforward. I found GF graham crackers that honestly taste just like the Nabisco brand that I grew up with. Alison says she likes to break up the crackers into tiny crumbs with her hands. So I started doing that too. After having only gotten through half of the crackers in about 10 minutes, I decided to abandon the mission and settle for a food processor. Excellent choice, in my opinion. This went so much faster. The crumbs are then combined with melted butter, coconut oil, and a bit of sugar and salt. Press ‘em into the pie dish and bake for about 15 minutes.
The filling is where my questions lie. The ingredients and assembly seem to mirror other key lime pie recipes I’ve seen on the Internet. Just a lot of lime juice, zest, egg yolks and a can of sweetened condensed milk. And lots of whisking as each ingredient is added. Once it’s all light and fluffy, the mixture is poured into the crust and baked…
Alison’s recipe instructs the pie to be baked at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes. She says, “the center should barely jiggle.” So at about 22 minutes, I administered my first Jiggle Test. And boy, did it jiggle. The liquid had become more solidified, but I witnessed a lot of movement. So I put it back in for another 4 minutes. Jiggle Test #2: still rather jiggly. I checked 3 MORE TIMES! The top of the filling began to form cracks, but the jiggle was still present. Finally, after about 35 minutes, I decided to remove the pie because the cracks were becoming too worrisome, and I didn’t want the egg yolk to curdle.
My questions are: How do I properly measure a pie jiggle? Are my jiggle standards too high? Is there a jiggle scale? Is Alison’s oven at 350° way hotter than my oven at 350°?
In my search for answers, I compared this recipe with another NYT key lime pie recipe. This only left me more confused. The NYT recipe uses the same filling ingredients, and tells you to bake the filling at 325° for 10 to 15 minutes, “until the center is firm and dry to the touch.” If I had baked my pie at that temperature, it might have been 40 minutes by the time I reached that result!
Alas, my Nancy Drew skills can only take me so far. If you or your loved one are experienced key lime pie bakers and have any leads on answers to my questions, please contact me by commenting on this post. Thank you in advance.
Despite the filling confusion, the pie tasted excellent. The X factor for the whipped topping was adding in some yogurt after the heavy cream and sugar were fully whipped. This gave it a fresh, light, slightly sour taste that wonderfully complemented the other elements.
We shared this pie with our dear friends, Madeline and Sam after an Alison-inspired dinner of Paprika-rubbed Chicken and Crispy Smashed Potatoes. Madeline brought excellent glazed carrots from The Food Lab, which I can’t wait to make myself.
31 recipes cooked, 194 to go.
