Mini Key Lime Pies

The last time my family went to Florida, we did not eat even a bite of the famed key lime pie. I know, right? I mean, the Florida Keys! Key limes! What’s up with that? Super appalled at our lack of dessert nomming, I purchased key lime bar mix immediately upon arriving home, and placed it on our pantry shelf . . . where it sat. And waited. And sighed. And is probably still sitting. Whoops?

I don’t know what happened. Well, no, I do. I am, first and foremost, a procrastinator, and secondly, an easily distracted individual. I’ll think up about ten different baking ideas – usually as I’m trying to sleep! – before settling on a dessert, open up twenty tabs on my computer and forget about at least half of them, crop photos and read CNN (my new hobby – at least it’s actually educational) in the middle of writing my blog post.

Where was I again? Oh, right. Not easily distracted at all. I recently came across key limes again, in the form of a bag of 25 key limes – for just one dollar(!!!) at my new favorite supermarket, El Rio Grande. 25! One dollar! They also have five avocados for one dollar aka what is going on in the world. (Answer: Lots of guac)

So, faced with the prospect of finally eating my long-awaited key lime pie, I debated the merits of using a pie pan, a mini cupcake pan, or a square pan to make bars, and finally settled on mini key lime pies made in a cupcake tin! The particular advantages of this option? Well, I finally got to try out my new cupcake tin!

You might have noticed that I haven’t yet made full-sized cupcakes on this blog, and that’s because, well, we didn’t have one. I repeat, my sister and I did not have a cupcake pan. Which is ridiculous. I mean, absolutely crazy! Especially considering the fact that last year, we each had one. Where did they go? It’s still a total mystery.

Amazingly, though, my local Kroger had one lone cupcake pan discounted for Halloween! Not a pumpkin themed one, either – just a regular cupcake pan! I am really loving my supermarket luck lately. I used the graham cracker crust recipe I created for my s’mores rice krispie squares, then melded a bunch of key lime pie recipes together into a super key lime pie. Super delicious. Super limey. Super weekend!

Mini Key Lime Pies (Adapted from AllRecipes)

Yield: About 18 pies

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs, crushed (about 18 graham cracker squares)
2. 3 tablespoons sugar
3. 3/4 stick butter, melted
4. 3 egg yolks, beaten
5. 2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
6. 3/4 cup key lime juice
7. 1 tablespoon key lime zest
8. 1/3 cup nonfat greek yogurt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter. Press down into the bottom of the cupcake liners (I used the bottom of a measuring cup to tightly pack the crumbs). Bake for 8 minutes, then cool before adding the lime filling.
3. In a separate bowl, combine egg yolks, condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, and greek yogurt. Mix well. Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 of the way full, and bake for about 15 minutes. Cool, and decorate as desired. I added a little whipped cream and lime slices.