Recipe for Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie

We had our girls and their children over here this afternoon to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day with us. I am now able to sit down to post the recipe for the Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie I posted about earlier. In case you missed my Saint Patrick's Day post earlier, this is the pie:

Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie

If you like taste of Key limes, then this one is for you. I actually made two of these pies for today because they add just a touch of green for Saint Patrick's Day dinner and because I thought my husband, who really enjoys a good pie. He is very fond of citrus pies, especially key lime and lemon meringue pies. This pie is very rich and creamy, satisfying those with a sweet tooth. At the same time, it packs a tangy Key lime punch!

Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie

Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie

To make my Key Lime Pie I started with this Key Lime bottled Key lime juice:

Nellie & Joe's Famous Key Wet Lime Juice

There is a recipe on the back of the bottle.

Recipe on the Back of Nellie & Joe's Famous Key Lime Juice Bottle

I think the pie made from this recipe is probably delicious but have not yet tried it. Since I wanted to make a pie containing cream cheese because I thought it would make a really creamy pie.

Here is how I made my Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie:

I started by making a graham cracker pie crust. I wanted the crust to be a little on the salty side, since citrus is so good with a bit of saltiness added. To give that little taste of salt, I added a bit of salted pretzels when I put my graham crackers in my blender.

Recipe for Graham Cracker and Pretzel Pie Crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Graham Crackers, Ground (about 9 Full sheets of Graham Crackers)
1/2 Cup Ground Salted Mini Pretzel Twists(about 24 mini pretzels)
1/3 Cup Granulated White Sugar
7 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Melted
2 to 3 Drops of Green Food Coloring

Directions:

If using a blender, break the graham crackers into blender along with the pretzels, a few at a time. Blend all until finely ground. Place ground graham crackers and pretzels in a medium bowl with the granulated sugar. Pour the melted butter on top of the crumbs and sugar mixture and mix with a fork until all the crumbs and sugar are coated with the melted butter. Pour the wet crumb mixture into a 9 inch pie plate. Using hands and a round cup or glass to press the buttered crumbs evenly across the bottom and up around the sides of the pie plate. Set the pie crust aside while making the pie filling.

Recipe for Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie

Ingredients:

1 8 oz. Package of Cream Cheese, Softened
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
14 oz. Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Egg Yolk (Discard Egg White)
1/2 Cup Key Lime Juice (Fresh Squeezed or Bottled)

Directions:

Place softened cream cheese and sour cream in the bowl of a stand mixture and blend until creamy. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix at medium speed until blended well with the cream cheese and sour cream. Add the egg yolk and blend well. Using Low Speed of the stand mixer, slowly add the key lime juice until the juice is mixed well with the cream cheese mixture, then with the mixer on Medium speed mix until all ingredients are well blended and smooth. Add 2 to 3 drops of green food coloring, if desired.  Note: The mixture will be a little thin at this point. Pour cream cheese mixture into the graham cracker pie shell and place pie into the preheated oven. Bake pie for 15 to 20 minutes, making sure that the crust does not become burned. Remove baked pie from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Loosely cover the pie with plastic cling wrap or place in a pie container, if you happen to have one. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and overnight, if possible.

Note: If you own a food processor, you can use it instead of the stand mixer. I no longer have one, so the stand mixer works fine for this pie if you mix everything thoroughly

Just before serving pipe whipped cream on top. Garnish pie with thinly sliced fresh Key lime slices, if desired. I took the easy route and I used Redi-Whip in a can with star nozzel to garnish the pies!

Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie

Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie

I was quite pleased at how my pie turned out.

As always, thanks so much to all the nice folks who stopped by my blog! I hope you will try my Cream Cheese Key Lime Pie recipe and that you will enjoy eating it as much as we have!

Please note that I updated this post on 3/18/2016 to include the optional 2-3 drops of green food coloring to the list of Ingredients and to the Directions for mixing and baking the pie. This is optional but it does lend a little green to the color of the filling before baking.

I am partying with the following great bloggers! Go on over and check them out by clicking on the party links!

Thoughts of Home on Thursday
Five Star Frou-Frou at A Tray of Bliss