No-Bake Key Lime Pie

No-Bake Key Lime Pie. A Fantastic Summer Dessert

slice of no-bake key lime pie with rest of pie

A Fantastic Dessert

This is the 3rd recipe from my 5 No-Bake Summer Dessert Recipes post (if you missed it, you can check it here). No-Bake Key Lime Pie. Wow! Just wow. I wanted to eat the entire pie that night. But let’s get into the recipe itself before I go on and on about just how good this was.

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman’s website. I have never made one of her recipes before and actually if you read this, it’s not a recipe by Ree Drummond but rather by Erin Merhar. Not that it really matters.

The Recipe as written

The list of ingredients was not that difficult to come by. I admit I didn’t use Key Limes but rather regular limes since it is challenging to find Key Limes here in Canada. The recipe states this isn’t an issue and even suggests you can use bottled lime juice if necessary. I guess I should call this No-Bake Lime Pie.

This recipe required some advanced planning since it specifically mentions needing to refrigerate the pie for at least 12 hours to avoid it becoming a soupy mess. So, I started my pie at 8am in the hopes to have it for a late dessert that night.

My First “Canadian” Issue

Sleeve of graham crackers

Let’s talk about Graham Crackers. The recipe calls for “12 Graham Crackers”. That’s it. Nothing about weight or volume or anything. Just 12 Graham Crackers. The above picture is how our Canadian Graham Crackers come. They are in these sleeves with what I would call “4” individual crackers per sheet. If you make campfire s’mores, you break these sheets into 2 crackers down the middle and make 1 s’more. I don’t know how Graham Crackers are sold in the US so I don’t know if “12 Graham Crackers” makes more sense from a measurement point.

So, I went with 12 sheets of graham crackers since that seemed like a much more reasonable amount of crushed graham crackers for a crust.

graham crackers in food processor

The recipe wants you to add the graham crackers and brown sugar to your food processor and process until finely ground. Then with the food processor running, add the melted butter. It was a gloopy mess on the bottom and the top was dry. I ended up taking the mixture out of the food processor and mixing it up in a bowl before putting it into the pie crust. I think this happened because there were not enough graham crackers. I remembered with the No-Bake Cheesecake I made not that long ago, I ended up using 14 sheets of graham crackers. I’ve made a note on this recipe to try 14 sheets next time and see what the consistency is like.

The Filling

Once the pie crust is made and into the freezer for a quick chill, it’s on to the filling. And on to my second “Canadian” issue…

The recipe calls for 1 – 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk. Being Canadian, our measurements are in millilitres. I googled 14 oz to ml and google said I needed 414 ml. Our cans come in 300ml (sorry for the not great picture but it does say 300ml on the bottom left). I bought two cans expecting to have to use a full can and part of another one.

I used my scale. I zeroed out the scale when I placed my mixing bowl on it and I emptied out the first can. I scraped empty the first can. 13.45 oz!!! Now I’m confused. 300ml is not 13.45 oz. I really need to get this scale checked…but not right now, so I continued on and used one can.

no-bake key lime pie ingredients before mixed

I decided to use a hand mixer since I didn’t want to get out the Kitchen Aid beast. I was already using the Ankarsrum for the whipped cream component. This machine makes whipped cream so fast. Amazing.

Whipped cream

Mix the cream cheese, lime zest, and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Mix in the lime juice last.

Now gently fold in the whipped cream. You don’t want to deflate the air from the whipped cream.

fold in whipped cream

Looks good already!

Add the filling to your pie crust and place it in the refrigerator for 12 hours. The recipe doesn’t state if you should cover the pie or not so I didn’t. It’s difficult for me to put things into the refrigerator uncovered. I don’t know why I think everything needs to be sealed or wrapped or whatever, but I just do.

Wait patiently for 12 hours.

No-Bake Key Lime Pie Results!

No-Bake Key Lime Pie

I waited the 12 hours! It was now 9pm and dark out. I made up some more whipped cream and added some fresh lime zest as the recipe called for.

Slice of No-bake key lime pie

The slices came out great! No soup here. The taste was amazing! The texture was smooth and creamy with a nice tangy lime flavour. The crust held together well and the brown sugar really adds to the flavour. I wanted to eat the entire pie that night. My family liked it as well.

Overall, it was not difficult to make and the actual preparation part was not time-consuming. You just need to be prepared to have it sit for 12 hours.

This recipe is a keeper!

Have you made this recipe before? Do you like Key Lime Pie? Let me know what you think down below.

Need another No-Bake dessert idea? These No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars are quick and delicious.


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