sweet springtime & an "heirloom recipe"

i love fruity desserts! i would much rather have something light and fruity over rich chocolate any day. (my mom is shaking her head and wondering if i am really her daughter right now!) don't get me wrong... i really haven't met a dessert i didn't like, including the rich chocolate ones, but with spring right around the corner (this saturday!) its time to lighten up! what we have here is an old-school southern key lime pie recipe. warning... you may want to double your recipe as you may end up eating the filling before it goes in your pie shell!

this is one of those recipes your grandma tells you, maybe you wrote it down but once you make it a couple of times, you remember by heart. i call this an "heirloom recipe"... look for more of these from me!

you need:
can of eagle brand milk
1/2 cup of key lime juice (you can also use lemon or regular lime - and i used the kind in the plastic lime)
1 raw egg (don't be scared... the acidity of the lime juice "cooks" it)
zest of half a lime, save the lime to use the rest of the zest for topping
deep-dish graham cracker crust
whipped cream

with an electric mixer on medium speed beat together the first four ingredients for one minute incorporating as much air as you can into the filling while doing so. pour filling into pie shell and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, more if you can wait that long. top with a generous amount of whipped cream and the rest of the zest from the lime. for easier slicing you can put the pie in the freezer for about 30 minutes... the pie is delicious served straight from the freezer for a frozen treat!

it doesn't get much easier than that! a perfect party treat is to line a twelve cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners (cheap ones... you will be throwing them away) and place two vanilla wafer cookies in the bottom of each liner. spoon the filling over the cookies and refrigerate overnight. the next morning top with cool whip and lime zest, and pop them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. about fifteen minutes before serving, take out of freezer and remove cupcake liners for the cutest (and tastiest!) mini key lime pie you'll ever eat! recipe makes one pie or twelve mini pies.