Here’s the thing. Ever since my parents moved to Florida, I’ve become somewhat of a key lime pie aficionado. According to my husband, my whole family is. So I’m a little ashamed of this recipe because there is no homemade crust involved. But that’s the beauty of it. It’s simple, easy, and good. And let’s be honest, who has time to make homemade crust anyway?

Here’s what you need:

• 4 egg yolks
• 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup key lime juice (Don’t even think of reaching for the regular limes at the store. It’s called Key Lime Pie for a reason!)
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Ready made crusts (9 inch crust or 6 mini crusts – I made minis this time)

You can usually find key limes or packaged key lime juice at your local grocery store. I’ve bought it off Amazon as well.

Lightly beat the 4 egg yolks (emphasis on lightly) and slowly add in the sweetened condensed milk. Keep stirring. Add in the lime juice and the vanilla next. Stir.

When it’s all nice and mixed together, pour the batter into the crust.

Now it’s time for you to decide whether to bake the pies in the oven or let the acidity from the lime juice produce a natural cooking effect.

*Fun fact – lime was used way back when to prevent scurvy in sailors out at sea. Eventually someone realized that they could mix lime with eggs and milk and the citrus would somehow make the raw egg safe to eat.*

Okay, back to the recipe. If you don’t feel comfortable with the citrus cooking method, you can pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. If you decide to forego the oven all you need to do is refrigerate the pies for 4 hours before serving.

If you want, you can garnish your pies with limes or a little reddi-wip on top.

All that’s left to do is turn on some Jimmy Buffet and transport yourself to Key West!