Name: Key Lime Pie & Tarts
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 10 mini graham cracker crusts OR 1 8-serving (9″) graham cracker crust; 5 egg yolks; 1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk; Around 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice. If you’re going to use bottled regular lime juice, don’t.

As all you long-time readers know, we absolutely love limes around here. You’ll also probably know that Brazilian Lemonade is my favorite drink in the whole world. So yeah, this key lime pie (and tarts, if you prefer)? It’s pretty much Brazilian Lemonade as a pie. The pie itself only has 4 ingredients and is truly one of the easiest desserts I know how to make, so between that and the fact that it’s my favorite drink in pie form, I don’t think things get better than that.

This recipe is pretty tart, but that’s the way I like it. I also like to cut that tartness with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream instead of the more traditional meringue. Meringue is gorgeous, but I also think it’s gross. Can we still be friends?

This recipe can either be made as a pie or as tarts. And it’s awesome both ways. However, I like making them as tarts because of the following reasons:

They’re cute.
Who doesn’t want their very own mini pie?
You get more out of the recipe (10 tarts as opposed to 8 slices of pie).
The mess is completely self-contained; you don’t need plates or a pie server.
Double the recipe, pop a whole slew of these onto a baking sheet, and you have enough tarts for a party in just a few minutes.
I must be held accountable at the end of the day for any and all empty tart tins. There are no slivers of pie mysteriously disappearing throughout the day.

You’ll need 5 egg yolks (if you need help separating your eggs, large cookie scoop), a can of sweetened condensed milk (I’m all for generics most of the time, but most generic sweetened condensed milks I’ve found are a little gritty, so I always spring for the name brand), and some freshly squeezed lime juice (key limes if you have the patience for those tiny little things…I do not, so I just look for small, thin-skinned limes that spring back when I press them.)

You’ll also need 10 mini graham cracker crusts or 1 8-serving graham cracker crust.

pie crusts for key lime pie from Our Best Bites

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, sweetened condensed milk,

adding sweetened condensed milk to key lime pie from Our Best Bites

egg yolks,

and lime juice.

Adding lime juice to key lime pie from Our Best Bites

To juice the limes, I use a small citrus juicer like this and absolutely love it–it’s not too big (so it’s great for lemons and limes and is easy to store), has measurements on the side, is sturdy, and strains the pulp and seeds.

Distribute the mixture evenly among graham cracker crusts (if you’d like, you can use large cookie scoop to make sure things are equal, or you can just eyeball it).

key lime tarts on pan for our best bites

Place tart pans on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven 10-11 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature, then chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Before serving, add a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

If you plan on making these ahead of time, use stabilized whipped cream–regular whipped cream will not last more than a few hours before it starts to deflate).

Bite of Key Lime Pie from Our Best Bites

large pie instructions

If you want to bake this as a single large pie, just use a standard 9″ (8-serving) graham cracker pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Top each slice with whipped cream before serving.

Key Lime Pie & Tarts

Author: kate jones
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8-10 servings

Print Recipe

Description

This is the best Key Lime Pie we’ve ever eaten and it only has 4 ingredients! One of the easiest make-ahead desserts you can make!

Ingredients

10 mini graham cracker crusts OR 1 8-serving (9″) graham cracker crust

5 egg yolks

1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Around 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice. If you’re going to use bottled regular lime juice, don’t.

Instructions

tart instructions

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice. Distribute evenly among graham cracker crusts (I used my cookie scoop to make sure things were equal). Place tart pans on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven 10-11 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature, then chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Before serving, add a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

whole pie instructions

To bake this as a single large pie, just use a standard 9″ graham cracker pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Top each slice with whipped cream before serving.

53 comments

I just wanted to double check the amount of egg yolks?

Your picture has 5 yolks, but the instructions did not say…

Thank you 🙂

jfb–Sure thing! Just get a regular graham cracker pie crust and bake it for 15 minutes. 🙂

hey there! I love all your recipes so I came here first looking for a key lime pie recipe (my hubby's request for his bday this week). Do you suppose I could just do this in a pie size crust and all would be just as well? I assume so, but wondered if you have done that before.

Linz–I think the biggest concern with doing mini tarts would be the custard filling. The crust really helps hold that in, but if you had a graham cracker crust all the way up the sides of a mini muffin tin, you might not have enough room for the filling, you know? If you end up doing it, PLEASE let us know how they turn out because they could be super-cute!

Jordanne says:

06.27.2012 at 10:44 pm

I made these into mini-tarts today for a RS dinner and they were a huge hit! I used homemade graham cracker crust and a mini muffin tin with paper liners. I put 1 (slightly heaping) teaspoon of crust and an almost-full cookie scoop of custard in each liner. I baked at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes. They came out of the liners easily, with minimal mess (though I would be sure to pack the graham cracker crust down pretty well to prevent crumbling when you take off the liner) and the proportion of crust to custard turned out great! One batch made approximately 32 mini-tarts and I covered almost all of them with the whipped cream from a half pint of heavy cream. 🙂

Reply

Do you think these could be made into even smaller, bite-sized tarts? As in baked in a mini muffin pan? And if so, what steps would be different.

You'd obviously have to make your own crust for that…and maybe even use cupcake papers to hold it together so the crust wouldn't fall apart.

Do you think it could work? Just wondering because I was thinking of making them for a potluck of sorts, so the mini pies would be too big and too few for the guests that will be there.

I made these last night. They're super cute and taste great! And they couldn't have been easier.

I LOVE LIME!!!!!!!

Alright, so I made these Monday night so we could have them for dessert last night when my friend was over for dinner. They were fantastic!! I couldn’t get over how easy they were to make and so, so tasty! 🙂
– Jennifer

Yum! These look awesome. I can’t wait to make them.

Jennifer–I’m so glad you found us!! 🙂 Welcome to the flock… 🙂 Be sure and let us know when you love (or don’t) a new recipe and don’t hesitate to ask any questions!! Welcome again and happy cooking! (Apparently I’m shouting inside my head today…)