Latchkey lime pie

A couple of weeks ago my mother in law and I did a home-grown produce swap of limes for lemons which threw me a little. I had been planning so many things to make with lemons and didn't have much stored up in the way of lime recipes. Limes are something I frequently use in guacamole, cashew cream, stir-frys etc. and I adore their flavour although I've never made anything that features limes in a starring role. It wasn't until the man gently persuaded me to make something sweet that I recalled a Post Punk Kitchen recipe that had been stashed away for a while - key lime pie.

I've never eaten key lime pie before so I was never going to have anything to make a proper comparison with. I decided to use the sweet shortcrust pastry from Wrapped in Pastry (with lime juice and zest instead of lemon) as I've made this a couple of times now and it has always worked perfectly. When it came to the filling, a few adjustments needed to be made to cater for what was in the pantry. I was out of almond milk and substituted soy milk, my supply of coconut milk was rather low so I included less than the original recipe and increased the soy milk quantity slightly and used cornflour instead of tapioca flour. 

The pie took hours to complete yet there wasn't much active work throughout the process. The shortcrust pastry needs an hour to rest prior to rolling out and baking and the pie filling was cooled on the bench for a while prior to it's setting time in the fridge, in total it would have been about 5 hours from start to finish. The man asked about having a biscuit layer on top so I indulged him with this request and ran a handful of Nice biscuits through the food processor for this purpose.

The man and I adored this pie and agreed that it was totally worth the wait! It was more refreshing than a lemon tart, with a lovely citrus tang and wasn't overly sweet which I always appreciate. The young man was not convinced, it seems that he is more attracted to lemon based sweets. Recipes like this make me long for a lime tree in my garden as I would happily revisit this recipe often to deal with a surplus of limes.


Latchkey lime pie (Pastry adapted from Wrapped in Pastry, lime filling adapted from PPK)

Sweet shortcrust pastry

2 cups plain flour
¼ cup icing sugar
½ cup dairy-free margarine
¼ cup soy milk
1 tablespoon lime juice 
1 tablespoon lime zest

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl then sprinkle the lime zest over the top. Using your fingers, cream the margarine into the flour/sugar/zest mixture until it looks like breadcrumbs. Drizzle in the lime juice and soy milk slowly, mixing it through with a butter knife until the dough comes together. Knead for a couple of minutes until the dough is smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Roll out the pastry between two pieces of plastic wrap or baking paper to an even thickness of about 1cm. Press the pastry into a greased and floured 25cm tart tin, patching up any bare places with leftover dough if necessary. Run a knife around the top edge of the tin to remove any excess pastry which will also neaten it's appearance.

Blind bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is cooked and a golden brown colour. Allow the pastry to cool completely before adding the filling.

Lime filling

1 tablespoon lime zest
2/3 cup lime juice
2 x 165ml light coconut milk (at room temperature)
2 tablespoons cornflour
½ cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essense
2 teaspoons agar powder
450ml soy milk (at room temperature)

Arnotts Nice biscuits, crushed, for topping (optional)

Whisk the lime zest, lime juice, coconut milk, cornflour, sugar and vanilla essense together in a mixing bowl and set aside.

Place soy milk and agar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the agar has dissolved. Slowly pour the contents of the mixing bowl into the saucepan, stirring often. Continue to cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture thickens slightly.

Pour the filling into the pie crust and allow it to cool on the kitchen bench for 30 minutes. Refrigerate until firm and set, about 2-3 hours. Top with crushed Arnotts Nice biscuits, if desired.