Key lime pie

One of my favorite childhood desserts was a key lime pie that I bought at the place where my father used to work, back in a small town in Brazil. I won't ever be able to replicate the experience, but this is my closest take so far.

I have tried many variations, but the one I'm the most happy with is this:

• All purpose flour (250g)
• Cold butter, cubed (125g)
• Refined sugar (10g)
• 1 egg yolk
• A few teaspoons cold water
• Salt to taste

Here, I use my KitchenAid Classic with the mixing paddle attachment. It's great for crumbling the butter and flour (sablage technique if you want to look it up), which is an essential part of this pie dough. Start by mixing the flour, sugar and salt into your stand mixer bowl. Add the butter cubes and mix well with the paddle until you have a crumbly, sand-like texture. Now you add the egg yolk and once incorporated, add cold water, 1 teaspoon at a time until stable. Try not overworking the dough at this point, but it should not be crumbly anymore. Wrap it in plastic and to the fridge it goes to rest for at least 1 hour. The more you rest it the better, so keep that in mind. I normally rest it for 1-2 hours or 4 if I have the time. Once it had time to relax in the fridge you can warm it up by mixing it with your hands until it's workable and easy to roll into a disk.

Cover your pan with the dough, poke some holes with a fork so it won't inflate in the oven and bake it in the oven at 180ºC for 20-25 minutes (until slightly golden).

After the crust bakes and is cooled down, it's time for us to prepare the filling and icing. This process shouldn't take more than 20 minutes. It's the crust preparation that is the most time-consuming.

In my humble opinion, the filling should have a wonderful mouth feel, both in taste and texture. It goes like this:

• Sweetened condensed milk (1 can 395g)
• Mascarpone cheese (250g)
• Milk powder (2 tablespoons)
• Juice of 3-4 limes

It's very simple. Condensed milk to make it sweet and creamy, mascarpone to balance the sweetness and give it a light touch, milk powder to help with the texture and flavor depth and finally the star of the show: lime juice which brings acidity and will make it thick.

Start by mixing the condensed milk, mascarpone and milk powder until combined and homogeneous. You can do that by hand or with your mixer. Then start pouring the lime juice and you will notice the consistency changing immediately. Add lime juice until you taste it to the acidity you like, preferably not too sweet.

After mixing, pour the cream into the baked, cooled, pie crust and set aside.

There are many different ways to do a meringue. For this pie I have had good success with a Swiss-style meringue. This can possibly be the most frustrating part of this entire recipe, as it can go wrong quite easily. But don't worry - as long as it tastes good you're golden. It starts with the following:

• Egg whites (100g)
• White sugar (130g)
• Lime juice (a few drops)
• Vanilla extract (a few drops)

A Swiss meringue is a cooked meringue which gives it a very nice structure. Mix the egg whites and sugar well and cook it very gently over a double boiler (bain-marie technique). You will notice it gets foamy, slightly opaque and you shouldn't be able to feel any of the sugar granules meaning it has been fully dissolved. If you have access to a food thermometer, this is the time to use it - cook the mixture until it reaches 80ºC. At this point you want to add the vanilla and and lime juice (which is here to provide stability and a bit of flavor) and then beat it until it's cool to the touch. About 10-15 minutes beating your meringue at medium-high speed should give you pretty good peaks.

When it's consistent, fluffy, shiny and stable, decorate the pie the way you see fit. If you have a piping bag and the skills, this is your time to shine. Last, but not least, toast the meringue using a kitchen torch or the grill setting of your oven (if you decide to go for the oven method, keep the pie really close to the grill and let it brown slightly for a few minutes. Finish it by sprinkling the lime zest which gives it an amazing touch.

That's it! I guarantee you'll be amazed by how light and flavorful this pie turns out, and I hope it brings you the same sense of nostalgia that takes me back to my childhood.