Classic Key Lime Pie

     I know I made key lime cheesecake already this week, but I had to use up the other half of my bag o' limes, so that's the only reason why I'm posting something so similar today. The first time I worked with actual key limes (the tiny ones), I found it to be a very interesting and different experience. This time, I concluded that it's a real pain. If you want to hand squeeze the juice of about 30 little key limes, go right ahead, but if not, they do sell fresh key lime juice in bottles, so that would definitely be easier to work with. My other issue today was when I got halfway through with the prep work and then realized I was all out of a key ingredient, condensed milk. In a panic, I scrambled to make substitutions that I won't even mention here just for the sake of getting my pictures, but the taste ended up being just okay. So instead of publishing my mediocre plan B, I'm going to post the recipe I originally intended to make, because you guys really deserve plan A. So please pretend that the pictures represent reality although I guarantee your version using the correct ingredients will look better.
     Also today, I'm including the only whipped cream recipe you'll ever need. It's really simple, works for everything, and once you learn it, there's no excuse for store bought whipped cream. And for the record, it is called whipped cream, not whip cream. If I see the phrase "whip cream" on the internet one more time, it'll drive me insane. Okay, mini rant over.

INGREDIENTS: (fills an 8-inch tart pan)
For crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 egg whites

For filling:
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks

For whipped cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 325 and spray your 8inch tart pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and separated egg whites. Mix well, then press it evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then let it cool.

3. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the lime juice and condensed milk.

4. Set the tart pan on top of a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and slowly fill it with the filling. You may not use it all, but don't overfill it.

5. Bake at 325 until the center doesn't jiggle. For me, this took 30 minutes, but check it after 20. Then, let it cool completely and chill for a few hours in the fridge.

6. Make the whipped cream with an electric mixer. First, chill the bowl in the freezer for a few minutes. If you use a hand mixer, it may take up to 5-7 minutes, plus some extra hand-whisking to get the right consistency. The key is to not give up even if you think it's taking too long, and to add the sugar and vanilla at the very end. If you use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, it'll be 10 times easier and a lot faster. I could never even imagine doing it completely by hand, but some people apparently do.

7. Only once the pie is thoroughly chilled, spoon the whipped cream on top.

Feel free to add some kind of fancy garnish on top if you want. If not, just dig in!

When you make it the right way with condensed milk, the actual lime portion of the pie will obviously be bigger than the whipped cream portion, but please don't let my careless mistake not to look in my pantry before starting prevent you from trying this delicious dessert! I promise tomorrow I'll get my act together!