Description
The filling is creamy, sweet and tart, bursting with lime goodness, and has a crumbly gluten free graham cracker crust that’s made with oats, and almonds. Bonus, the filling doesn’t have sweetened condensed milk in it. This is the best key lime pie, and it’s the perfect dessert for summer.
Ingredients
Gluten Free Crust
- 1 cup rolled oats – see notes
- 1 cup raw almonds – see notes
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar (or sub coconut sugar)
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
Pie filling
- 1 tablespoon lime, or key lime zest (about 3 to 4 Persian limes) – see notes
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed key lime juice (or, sub Persian lime juice) – see notes
- 1.5 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 cup brick of full fat cream cheese, room temp
- 3/4 cup non-fat, plain, Greek yogurt (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For topping
- homemade whipped cream – see notes
- extra slices of key limes/Persian limes
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Make the crust: Add the rolled oats, almonds, kosher salt, cinnamon, and brown sugar to a high powered blender – blend until you have a mostly fine meal that resembles crushed graham cracker crumbs, scraping down the sides as needed. Be careful not to over process the ingredients, otherwise they will turn into nut butter. NOTE: if you don’t have a high powered blender, than you can use a food processor. It will just take longer to get to the fine meal/it might end up not being as fine as if you have a high powered blender. I would not recommend using a regular powered blender. Once the you have the fine meal, stream the butter into the mixture while the blender is running. Alternatively, you can transfer the meal to a bowl and mix the butter in. The texture should resemble wet sand, and hold it’s shape when you squeeze the mixture in your hand. If it seems dry, add an extra tablespoon, or two of butter.
- Press the pie crust into pie plate: Transfer the prepared pie crust to a 9 inch pie plate and evenly distribute the crumbs on the bottom of the pie plate. Use a small piece of parchment paper, and the bottom of a measuring cup, or a glass, to press the crumbs into the bottom of the pie plate, working the crumbs just over half of the way up the side of the pie plate. I used my fingers to press the edges together, in an even, thick layer.
- Bake the crust: Bake the crust for 15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Increase the heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake another 5 to 10 minutes, or until the crust looks golden brown.
- Cool the crust: Allow the crust to cool completely before filling it with the pie filling. I pop mine into the freezer for 10 minutes, after it has cooled for 15 minutes at room temp, to speed up the cooling process.
- Rub the lime zest into the sugar: While the crust is cooling, you can get started on the filling. Over a large mixing bowl use a micro-plane to zest the limes/key limes until you have 1 packed tablespoon of zest. To the same bowl add the sugar. Use your fingers to rub the sugar into the zest until the sugar turns slightly green, and very fragrant. This helps to release the oils from the zest, making the pie even more flavorful. Set the lime sugar aside.
- Juice the limes: At this time you can juice the limes/key limes using a juicer (I used the kitchen aid juicer attachment to get the most juice out of my limes. However, you would need to use a hand held juicer for the key limes, due their size). If it seems like your juice is looking pulpy, pass it through a fine mesh Siv. Make sure to measure the juice after you pass it through the Siv.
- Bloom the gelatin: To a small bowl, or glass add about 3 tablespoons of the lime juice, sprinkle the gelatin over the lime juice, and allow it to sit for 5 minutes to soften.
- Dissolve the gelatin: Meanwhile, heat the remaining lime juice in the microwave (or a sauce pot) just until it’s warm – it doesn’t need to come to a boil. Once the gelatin has softened, add it to the warmed lime juice, and whisk until the gelatin has dissolved completely. Allow the lime/gelatin mixture to cool completely until you add it to the remainder of the filling. Sometimes I stick it in the freezer, or fridge for 10 minutes to help speed up the cooling process.
- Make the filling: To the large bowl that contains the lime sugar, add the heavy whipping cream. Use a hand mixer to whip the cream until it has slightly thickened, and the sugar is dissolved. Add the room temp cream cheese, and whip just until the cream cheese is combined, add the Greek yogurt and whip until everything is nice and smooth. Slowly stream in the cooled lime juice, and gelatin mixture, and mix until well combined, also mix in the vanilla. At this time, give the filling a taste. If you’re using key limes then you may, or may not need to add a little extra sugar, depending on how tart they are. Just add a tablespoon at a time, using the hand mixer to dissolve the sugar thoroughly.
- Pour the filling into the crust: Gently pour the filling into the cooled crust so that it almost reaches the top of the crust. You don’t want the filling to go past the crust. You may have an extra tablespoon or two of filling, you can discard that, or eat it with a spoon. Use a small offset spatula, or the back of a spoon to smooth out any bubbles.
- Chill: Carefully cover the pie tightly with plastic wrap, so it’s not touching the filling – or use foil to cover it – and place it in the fridge. Chill the pie for at least 4 to 6 hours, or overnight. The filling should be nice and set, just like you would expect a traditional key lime pie to be.
- Decorate: Once the pie has chilled it is ready to serve. Just 10 minutes before serving you can make whipped cream for topping, if desired. Click here for the a simple whipped cream recipe. If you are planning to pipe the whipped cream onto the pie, I suggest using powdered sugar to sweeten the whipped cream to help hold it’s shape better. I also recommend making a double batch of whipped cream, depending on how much you like for topping your pie. I used a large open star tip for decorating my pie, but you can do any design you want, or you can just spread a good amount of whipped cream on top in swoops, using the back of a spoon, or, just serve it on the side of each slice for those who want it. You can also decorate the pie by adding slices of key limes, or Persian limes on top, or on the plate.
- Serve: Use a sharp knife to cut the pie into 8 to 10 slices. Use a pie server to remove the slices from the pie plate. Serve immediately.
- Leftovers: Cover, and store the pie in the fridge. You can easily leave any whipped cream dollops, or decorations on the pie and cover as well. The pie will last for 4 to 5 days. Keep in the fridge when not eating, it will be okay at room temp for up to 30 to 45 minutes, but anymore than that, I would pop it back in the fridge. I do not recommend freezing this pie, because it contains gelatin, which does not freeze well.
Notes
Oats – if needed, be sure to buy certified gluten free oats.
Almonds – You can sub the almonds for pecans (I have tested this), or perhaps walnuts, if needed. The pecans do have a delicious flavor, but the almonds taste more like a real graham cracker crust.
Other crust options – You can use a traditional graham cracker crust recipe. I have tested this recipe using a pre-made store-bought graham cracker crust already in a pie plate (unbaked), and it worked great. Although, we did actually prefer the almond and oat crust. Just be sure to use gluten free graham crackers if needing to keep this recipe gluten free. Also, make sure to pay attention to the size of the pie shell. If it’s smaller than 9 inches, then you may need to divide the filling into 1, 2, or maybe 3 pie shells.
key limes VS regular Persian limes – Obviously key limes are what is traditionally used in key lime pie. They are a smaller, more floral version of the more common, larger Persian limes. We don’t always have access to key limes in Iowa, so I opted to use Persian limes, and the pie was so delicious, and reminded me a lot of the many key lime pies I enjoyed when in Florida. Also, the Persian limes are easier to juice, and zest due to their larger size. If you can get key limes, go for it, just know they take a little more effort to work with. Also, you will need a larger amount of key limes than regular limes. I would NOT recommend using any bottled key lime juice, however. I would recommend using regular limes over key lime juice, if those are your only two options.
Greek yogurt – Make sure to use a true Greek yogurt, not Greek yogurt style (which isn’t strained, or as thick). I like Fage brand, or Stoney field brand.
Homemade whipped cream – In my whipped cream recipe I share that you can sweeten whipped cream using maple syrup – it’s so good – but, if you are piping the whipped cream on to your pie, I recommend using powdered sugar to help stabilize the whipped cream so the piping design holds it’s shape. Depending on how much whipped cream you like to top your key lime pie with, you might want to double the whipped cream recipe. Click here for the whipped cream recipe.
Crust adapted from – The crust recipe is adapted from a really old gluten free key lime pie recipe. That crust was originally adapted from Minimalist baker.
Pie filling adapted from – The filling was adapted from a combo of Bigger Bolder Baking’s key lime pie recipe, and Skinny Taste’s key lime yogurt pie recipe.
