Recipe 10 Minute Lime Cracker Pie

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I'm not in the habit of making desserts, and when I do I typically want them to be healthy. Despite some big adjustments, this is still far from a healthy dish. But wow, is it tasty.

I started with the recipe by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, and replaced the regular Ritz crackers with reduduced fat Ritz crackers, condensed milk with fat free condensed milk, and the 2 cups of heavy cream with 1 cup of fat free half-and-half (I didn't think it would set if I had the same amount of the thinner, lighter dairy). I had enough to make 2 medium-sized pie tins. Cutting each into 8ths yielded this:

The "10 minute" part refers to how long it takes to assemble. You will still need to let it chill for at least 2 hours to set the ingredients. The first image here is what it looked like before I put it away to set. I will cut a cross-section so you can see what the layers look like.

Ingredients

28 ounces Fat Free Condensed Milk
1 cup Fat Free Half-and-Half (or 1/2 cup each of heavy cream and skim milkO
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon lime zest, plus more for finishing
85 Reduced Fat Ritz Crackers (about 3 sleeves)

Directions

1. Mix condensed milk with half-and-half in a bowl; whisk together, but make sure that the heavier condensed milk is scraped off the bottom of the bowl. Whisk lime zest into mixture.

2. Add lime juice gradually to mixture while constantly whisking; dumping it in all at once risks curdling.

3. Pour 1 cup of mixture into the bottom of a large, deep pie tin or casserole pan, or 2 medium-sized pie tins. Add a single layer of crackers to the bottom. Break up some crackers into pieces to fill the gaps, but leave as many as possible whole.

4. Spread a second layer of 1 cup of mixture over the top of the crackers, then add another layer of crackers. Repeat with 1 more layer of mixture and 1 more layer of crackers.

5. Spread remaining mixture over the top, smoothing out with spatula. Zest some more lime on the top.

6. Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to set and allow the liquid to permeate the crackers.

 

[Morning Glory]

Neat recipe. I am pretty certain that fat-free condensed milk doesn't exist in the UK, though. I will have a search...

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Neat recipe. I am pretty certain that fat-free condensed milk doesn't exist in the UK, though. I will have a search...

As it turns out, there's a very small difference between fat free condensed milk (110 calories/ounce) and regular condensed milk (125 calories/ounce). I was surprised that this change might have had the smallest impact to the total nutritional value.

 

[Morning Glory]

As it turns out, there's a very small difference between fat free condensed milk (110 calories/ounce) and regular condensed milk (125 calories/ounce). I was surprised that this change might have had the smallest impact to the total nutritional value.

I suppose its all the sugar which makes up the calories. I had a cousin when I was a kid who was addicted to condensed milk sandwiches (not a nice concept!). Why his Mum and Dad let him eat them I don't know - but he was a very, very fat boy!

 

[oddduck]

I think graham crackers instead of ritz would make it more like a key lime pie. And i love key lime pie...waiting for my key lime tree to give me more limes.

 

[medtran49]

I suppose its all the sugar which makes up the calories. I had a cousin when I was a kid who was addicted to condensed milk sandwiches (not a nice concept!). Why his Mum and Dad let him eat them I don't know - but he was a very, very fat boy!

I used to babysit a little boy whose mother had me pour condensed milk on a slice of white bread, then toast it in the oven. Freddy was a chunky little boy!

On another note, we watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen that used saltines crackers for the crust, like you'd use graham crackers, etc. I was thinking of trying that next time I make a Key Lime or lemon pie.