Key Lime Pies

Baking in my new kitchen has been great, but while I've been making a lot of things, I haven't been as good about updating the blog with the recipes. July turned out to be a relatively busy month, between settling into the new house, traveling, lab, and just general life stuff.

One of the highlights of the month was my trip to San Diego Comic Con - my college roommate and I have been trying to go for years and we finally managed (somehow) to get tickets for this year! I could write an entire post about my four day adventure, navigating through crowds of cosplayers, sleeping outside the convention center, seeing my favorite actors talk about their shows and movies, and just all-around being a huge geek.

Between that and the other fun things I've been doing, my diversity in baking has definitely taken a drop this month. It's pretty much been all cookies for the past few weeks, so for today, I finally decided to switch it up with these little key lime pies.

The recipe is super simple - graham cracker crust with a filling that only has four ingredients. It's really the perfect lazy summer recipe, with the key lime flavors and the simplicity in making it!

Key Lime Pies (makes about 16 mini-pies)
(Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)

• 1½ (150 g) graham cracker crumbs
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
• ⅓ cup (67 g) white sugar
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 4 egg yolks
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• ½ cup key lime juice
• Lime slices (for decoration)

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line about 16 cupcake tins.
2. Melt the butter and crush the graham cracker into crumbs (either using a food processor or crush them with a rolling pin in a Ziploc bag). 
3. Mix the cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar together until it resembles coarse sand.
4. Add one tablespoon of the crust mixture to each cupcake tin and press down until it's compact.
5. Bake crusts for 5 minutes and remove.
6. Mix cream cheese in a stand mixer on high speed until smooth.
7. Add in egg yolks, followed by condensed milk and lime juice until combined. 
8. Add filling on top of crust (about 3 Tbsp each) and bake for 15 minutes, or until the filling sets.
9. Let cool completely and then transfer to fridge to chill for 2 hours. 
10. Add lime slice on top and enjoy!