Key Lime M&Ms

So M&Ms is making a new flavor for Spring? It's the Key Lime Pie White Chocolate M&M!

I like Key Lime Pie, and I always like to make whatever it is we're comparing to, so today we're going to be making a key lime pie from scratch to go along with them! 

Today I'll be following a recipe from browneyedbaker.com for Authentic Key Lime Pie. The kids were excited to help out with all the steps today. It starts with our pie crust. Key Lime Pie has a graham cracker crust, so Alli counted out 14 graham crackers. 

Those got pulsed into crumbs in the food processor. 

Ian measured out some brown sugar for us, and then gave it another whirl. 

And he microwaved a stick of butter for us, then slowly drizzled it into the graham crackers while the food processor was mixing. 

I still don't have a pie tin, but these small cake pans have served me very well so far. The kids spooned all the mixed ingredients into the pan, spreading it out evenly as best they could. 

Nothing in here that's raw, so we can give it a taste. Graham crackers, butter, and brown sugar. What's not to like? 

This needs to be packed firmly, so it's a good thing I have two cake pans that are exactly the same. One fits into the other like a glove. I covered the bottom with plastic wrap to start. 

And then the kids gave it their all to press it down and squish things flat. 

Really giving it their all. 

After 10 minutes in a 350F oven, the crust was baked and ready to cool to room temperature. 

Now it's time for us to make the filling. I taught Ian a new, messy, way to separate egg yolks from the whites. We're going to need 4 egg yolks for this recipe. 

And instead of getting regular limes, I made it a point to get the real Key Limes for our recipe. We're going to need both the Key Lime Zest and Key Lime Juice. I bought about 1.5 pounds of key limes, hoping they'll give us what we needed. I taught the kids how to use the fine grater to get just the outside of the limes for our recipes. They learned a new word. Zest. 

Our recipe calls for 4 tsp of zest. 

Then it's on to the juicing. Compared to oranges or lemons, limes always seem dry to me. I was crossing my fingers that this many limes would get me the 1/2 cup of juice that the recipe calls for. Thankfully it was barely enough. 

The filling is pretty easy, once all the ingredients are prepped. Just one can of sweetened condensed milk, Ian's egg yolks, the lime zest, and our lime juice. 

That all gets mixed together. They both took turns with the hand mixer. 

Then they both took turns pouring the filling into our pre-cooked crust. 

It went into the oven looking like it. The filling was very liquid still. 

A little over 17 minutes later, the center is set. Our pie is baked and now it's ready to chill. The recipe calls for at least 3 hours. 

The perfect opportunity to go for a walk. 

These roses smell so good! And they're so pink! Alli's favorite!

Our evening meal didn't match up so well to Key Lime Pie for dessert, so we actually waited until the next day when we had BBQ Ribs. Which means this pie has had a chance to chill and set for ~24 hours. 

We just need to top it off with some fresh homemade whipped cream and we'll be good to go. 

I really should get some piping bag tips. These ziplock bags work, but it looks just like a plop of whipped cream on the pie. 

But that plop does look similar to the picture on the front of the M&Ms package. I even remembered to save a key lime for decoration. 

First, we'll be trying the M&Ms! What do you think kids? 

Oh. Okay, well let me try them and see. 

M&M could have done something interesting with the centers of these. There could have been a graham center, but they opted not to go that way. Instead it's all white chocolate inside and the flavors are all added later. There's no doubt that there's a lime flavor, but in this case the creaminess of the white chocolate stands out more than the lime. That lime flavor reminds me of the flavor of Lime Skittles before the green Skittle flavor was changed out to Green Apple. 

I made sure to try these M&Ms a few separate times without eating anything before, and I think I can pick out a subtle graham cracker flavor too. 

But again, the creamy white chocolate is the dominant flavor here. If you're not against white chocolate, maybe you'll like these. 

"But what about that pie?" you might ask. 

Hey, I'm glad you asked. Key Limes are a little more tart than your usual limes. As such, the pie is a bit tart. As it stands, with this recipe the only thing in the filling to combat the tart lime zest and lime juice is the sweetened condensed milk. If I did it over again, I'd add a little bit more sugar to the filling to knock back a little more of the tartness. 

But I'm still getting a thumbs up from Ian and a big smile from Alli. I wonder why that is? 

Well Ian found that if you scrape all the filling off, you're left with a pretty delicious graham cracker cookie on the bottom. Alli is liking all the whipped cream on top. 

And she then followed suit, scraping off all the key lime filling that we worked so hard on. 

And just eating the cookie underneath. When I asked her her favorite part, she liked the whipped cream the best. You know, the thing that took less than 2 minutes to whip together at the very end of all this. 

Well they can't all be winners with everyone. 

I still liked it though, and I'll have some leftovers for the next few nights. On to the next taste test!