This Lime Pie With Italian Meringue is just perfect. It has a wonderful biscuit pie crust, made with digestives. The a rich lime custard which is sweetly tart fills the pie crust. Once set the pie has a silky smooth and fluffy Italian Meringue on the top. Altogether it makes a perfect dessert.
Although I used digestive biscuits for the pie crust any other biscuit will probably be fine. For instance ginger nuts or Graham crackers are often a good choice.
The recipe is quite easy to make. It does take time, however. That is because the pie crust must be baked first. Then the lime custard too goes into the oven to bake. It must then set completely before the meringue can go on the top. But most of the time is actually just waiting, rather than actively working on the recipe.
The waiting, though, is well worth it, since the pie is so delicious and makes the perfect dessert. It might be called Key Lime Pie by some, but since I don’t have access to key limes I don’t call it that.
Ingredients
The are quite a few ingredients but none are difficult to obtain, if you don’t already have them.
Digestive Biscuits – or another variety if you prefer.
Light Brown Sugar – to sweeten the crust.
Unsalted Butter – this is melted and is used to bind the pie crust together.
Salt – to bring out flavours.
Condensed Milk – Also known as sweetened condensed milk.
Egg Yolks – Medium in the UK and Europe and large in the USA and Canada.
Double cream – or heavy cream
Lime Juice – from freshly squeezed limes. I used 6 limes.
Egg Whites – Medium in the UK and Europe and large in the USA and Canada.
Cream Of Tartar – to stabilise the meringue. You can omit this if difficult to obtain.
Caster Sugar – or granulated
Vanilla Extract – to flavour the meringue.
Water – for syrup when making the Italian meringue.
Process for Lime Pie With Italian Meringue
The process isn’t difficult at all. But it takes some time, mainly waiting, as mentioned above. There are 3 main steps, making the pie crust, making and baking the lime filling and then the Italian meringue.
The pie crust is simple, simply put broken biscuits with light brown sugar and some salt into a process. Blitz them to a fine grain. Then add melted butter and process to fully combine. Press that wet crumb into a 9 inch/23cm pie dish and compact it on the base and around the sides. Then bake the crust until it sets firm.
Whisk the condensed milk, eggs, cream and lime juice together, with a pinch of salt. The acidity of the limes will thicken the mixture during whisking. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for about 30 minutes, in a preheated oven, at 180C/350F, until the edge of the lime filling has set. The centre will still be slightly wobbly. It will set as the pie cools.
The pie needs to set firm, so after it has cooled to room temperature it is chilled.
For the Italian meringue the egg whites need whisking with cream of tartar and salt, to soft peaks. Make a syrup with the water and sugar, boiling them until the temperature reaches 115C/240F. Then add the vanilla into the egg whites and, whisking all the while, slowly drizzle in the boiling syrup. Whisk the egg whites until they achieve stiff peaks. Then they can be piped, or spooned onto the pie for serving.
My Pie
My pie baked nicely in 30 minutes. I let it cool and chill before adding the meringue. Then I got to enjoy a rather large slice. It was so good. The biscuit case was perfect, nice and crunchy. The filling was sweet yet tart and so smooth. Then the fluffy meringue on the top set it off so well. This recipes makes a perfect summer dessert.
Another nice recipe is Coffee & Walnut Cake.
Lime Pie With Italian Meringue
8
servings45
minutes50
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Pie Crust
227g(8 oz) digestive biscuits, I used 15
50g(1/4 cup) light brown sugar
3g(1/2 tsp) salt
113g(1/2 cup) melted unsalted butter
- Lime Filling
397g(1 can or 1 1/3 cups) condensed milk
4 medium egg yolks (large in USA)
160ml(2/3 cups) lime juice, freshly squeezed
90ml(6 tbsp) double cream
Pinch of salt
- Italian Meringue
2 medium egg white (large in USA)
100g(1/2 cup) caster sugar
60ml(1/4 cup) water
15ml(1 tbsp)vanilla extract
1.5g(1/4 tsp) cream of tartar
1.5g(1/4 tsp) salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Place the biscuits, salt and brown sugar in to a food processor and blitz to a fine crumb,
- Pour in the melted butter and blitz again until all the grains are coated in the butter.
- Tip the mixture into a 9inch/23cm pie dish and press it down on the the base and up the sides, compacting it. You can use the back of a spoon or the base of a cup measure or something similar.
- Bake the pie crust for 18 to 20 minutes until it it set firm.
- Place the condensed milk, egg yolks, lime juice double cream and salt into a large bowl and whisk them until fully combined.
- Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
- Place it onto a baking tray and bake it for about 30 minutes, until the edge is set but the centre still has a slight wobble to it.
- Cool the pie to room temperature and then place in the fridge to chill completely, about 3 to 4 hours.
- Place the egg whites, along with the cream of tartar and salt, into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.
- Put the water and sugar into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Continue boiling until the sryup reaches a temperature of 115C/240F.
- Pour the vanilla extract into the beaten egg whites and, with the whisk running all the time, slowly drizzle in the syrup.
- Continue whisking until the meringie reaches stiff peaks.
- Put the meringue into a piping bag, fitted with a star nozzle or similar, and pie over the chilled lime pie. You can spoon the meringue on instead if you wish.