Everyone has a favorite dessert from a restaurant and no one can usually make it at home and exceed that food memory. My husband is a traveler and a foodie. He eats key lime pie wherever he goes and believes he knows what an authentic key lime recipe should taste like.

I’ve tried my best to recreate a recipe for an authentic key lime pie, one that has the brightness and intensity of  limes, the heavenly textures of a thick lime cream paired with an airy light whipped cream and a flavorful, crunchy crust.

How’s that for a classic dessert?

I have over 1200 recipes and I want you to know that I fret about them being right for you. It’s my desire for you to have a great experience in your kitchen.

So as we argued about texture, I remade the pie, and even came up with a gluten free crust as an option. I’m eating gluten free now, which is not easy, and hope to be bringing you more delicious gluten free dishes, and a post on why I’m doing this. It has nothing to do with trends, but is a health matter.

On my second go round I thought to myself, why can’t everyone be happy? I can make small tarts and vary the crust between traditional graham crackers and an almond flour gluten free option.

The first key lime pie was just a little too thick, so I added more lime juice. I also used a mixture of key limes and Persian limes. If you have a choice between the two, however, I would just go with regular limes because otherwise you will need 25-30 key limes.

Key limes aren’t juicy enough, but they are more tart and that’s what an authentic key lime pie recipe has to have. It has to be tart, but the tartness will be offset by the sweetened condensed milk and the combination is creamy heaven.

Have you ever wondered what sweetened condensed milk is? It’s milk and sugar with the water evaporated out so it’s sticky, rich and whatever you do, do not look at the calorie count.

How to Top the Key Lime Pie

You could top your key lime pie with meringue like Southern Fatty did, or go with my preferred method, and top it with a stabilized whipped cream.

The whipped cream can be applied and refrigerated and it will look just as good two days later. I show you how to do that in this video. You can also freeze the pie or small tarts before applying whipped cream. Take out 20 minutes prior to serving. They will taste just as good.

Authentic Key Lime Pie Recipe with a Gluten Free Option

Let me know if you make this authentic key lime pie recipe and if you like whipped cream or meringue?

Let’s connect on instagram and if you make any of my recipes I’d love for you to tag me at #spinachtiger.

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Authentic Key Lime Pie Recipe with Gluten Free Option

Authentic Key Lime Pie Recipe with a gluten free option, using both key limes and limes and a stabilized whipped cream.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1 1/4 cups graham crackers
• 6 tablespoons melted butter

Gluten Free Crust

• 2 cups almond flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar optional

Key lime pie filling

• 3 large limes
• 8 key limes see notes
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 1 can 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 4 large egg yolks room temperature

Whipped Cream Topping

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese softened room temperature
• dash vanilla

Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust

• Put graham crackers into a food processor until you have crumbs.
• Melt butter in microwave for 30 seconds in glass dish.
• Mix together, press into a pie or tart pan. If using a tart pan, first layer the bottom with oil or butter or a cooking spray and use a sheet of parchment paper. Butter the paper (or spray) before adding crumbs.
• Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Almond Crust

• Combine almond flour with butter, and using same instructions for graham crackers, press iinto pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Filling

• Wash limes. Rinse. Zest to get 1 tablespoon of lime zest.
• Juice limes to get 1/2 cup lime juice plus 2 tablespoons.
• Beat egg yolks with mixer until golden and creamy.
• Add in lime juice, sweetened condensed milk and lime zest.
• Mix until well incorporated.
• Pour into prepared pans.
• This recipe will make one large pie or tart (9 inches) or 4-6 smaller tarts depending on size of your tart pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes. Center should not jiggle.
• Cool completely. Refrigerate overnight.
• Apply Whipped topping before serving. If you stabilize whipped cream, you can apply whipped cream and put back into refrigerator for several hours to two days.

Whipped Cream

• Mix cream, cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, vanilla together for five minutes until stiff.

Notes

Lime Juice: You will want 1/2 cup plus two tablespoons. Key limes give very little juice, so you'll need 25 or more. I mixed key limes with Persian limes, which are much juicier.

Almond Crust: Some recipes call for adding an egg. I did not do that for this type of pie.

More Tart Desserts from Spinach Tiger

Lemon Shaker Pie

Lemon Tart

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Italian Lemon Ice, Lemon Simply Syrup

Pavlova Cups with Basil Lime Cream

The post Authentic Key Lime Pie Recipe with Gluten Free Option appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

The soup that changes people’s minds about tortilla soup and rustic Mexican food has Nashville fans standing in long lines to slurp it up.

I wrote about Mas Tacos Por Favor in East Nashville a few weeks ago. They jumped from truck to brick and mortar and are so amazing with their street food, they made the top two finalists for the Munchie People’s Choice awards for best tacos in the country.

Aside from tacos, Mas Tacos is legendary for this soup.

It’s clean, comforting and perfectly balanced. This is not their recipe; it’s my version, and it’s very close. It’s an ensemble soup, in that you must eat it as soon as the ingredients are assembled.  You will want to serve it like this.

This is my inspired version only a little spicier.  If you are familiar with the original soup, it’s very kid friendly, because it’s not very spicy, and you can feel free to make it without the hot chile peppers for that milder version.  Adjust the heat to your liking, but do include all of these other ingredients. Like Mas Tacos, I used only white meat, but free to change that if you want a fattier broth or dark meat. The grilled corn is mandatory, adding sweetness, and the cilantro is the spark. The first flavor, however, that should come through is the lime.

This should be the most lime forward broth you’ve ever tasted and that’s what makes it so bright and cheery.

Here is the original soup.

You Can Make this Mas Tacos Inspired Soup Slow or You Can Make it Fast

Ideally, you’ll make this soup from scratch, simmering the chicken and making your own chicken broth. However, you can make it much quicker, by using a canned broth and a rotisserie chicken. I will not judge you, as there are those days this is all you have time for, and it’s still better than fast food.

The best way to serve this soup is by assembly. Place all the ingredients in separate dishes. Serve broth with chicken and cilantro and let everyone add the accompaniments.

The Slow Food recipe is below. You will be making your own broth, and pulling your own chicken.

This is a specially coveted soup in Nashville, so if you do make it, I’d love to hear what you think.

I made it a second time just to be sure it tasted just as good. In this case I left the peppers out to be added, so people could adjust their own level of heat.

If you know you want it all spicy put the serrano peppers in from the beginning, but then remove them.

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Spicy Tortilla Soup Inspired by Mas Tacos

Inspired from a local Mexican food truck, this spicy tortilla soup has long lines waiting for it. Make with queso, cilantro, and lots of avocado.

Course Soup

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 small onion
• 2 serrano peppers optional
• 3 avocados
• 3 ears see recipe here grilled corn
• juice from six limes
• 1 lime cut in wedges for garnish
• 1 bunch cilantro long stems removed
• tortilla chips for garnish
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Cut the chicken into pieces. You can use the legs and thighs or freeze those for another dish.
• Place chicken in large pot with cold water and 2 tablespoons salt.
• Don't bring to a boil. Bring to a simmer.and begin to skim off the foam.
• Cook for up to 40 minutes until all the chicken is cooked through, making sure the water does not boil, as it will get cloudy and getting off all the foam.
• Remove chicken, except for the chicken backs and continue to simmer with the onion for 30 minutes with sliced serrano peppers.
• Once chicken is cooled, cut into pieces.
• Remove chicken back.
• Taste broth for seasoning. Add salt & pepper.
• Pour chicken through a sieve to remove onion and any impurities.
• Keep broth warm. Add lime juice and make accompaniments.
• Cut corn off the cob.
• Slice Avocado. See how to peel here.
• Crumble queso fresca
• Cut cherry tomatoes.
• Clean and ready leaves off of cilantro.
• Fill bowls with chicken and cilantro (no stems).
• Serve with accompaniments in separate bowls.

More Chicken Based Soups from Spinach Tiger

Chicken Stock (bone broth)

Mexican Chicken Rice  Soup

Healthy Chicken Soup with Kale

Summer Chicken Soup with Yellow Squash, Kale, Corn

Lighter Chicken Noodle Soup

The post Spicy Tortilla Soup Inspired by Mas Tacos Por Favor appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

These are great to set your marshmallow pops in. You can get the kids engaged and it’s a lot of fun.

Coloring Sugar is just as easy as coloring coconut.

Colored sugar can be a nice touch as showers and girlfriend parties too. How would you color your sugar?

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How to Color Sugar with Food Coloring

Coloring sugar when you need a little bit for fun or decorating.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1-2 drops neon food coloring
• plastic baggie

Instructions

• Put food coloring into baggie and add sugar.
• Fold bag to close getting all the air out.
• Using hands, smoosh the sugar all around until it has the color you want.
• Lay it out on a plate. It will dry right away.
• I used neon food coloring for this shade of green. Experiment to see what you like.

The post How to Color Sugar for Sweets and Cocktails Rims appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I’m not sure why I’ve never grilled or roasted a whole fish before. Perhaps, because it seems so daunting, and unlike my neighbor, Susan, who brought the fish over for us to share, I didn’t grow up eating whole fish. Her Chinese father reveled in sucking each morsel of flesh off the the head of the fish and then ate the eyeballs. I’m so glad he taught her that, because she has passed this whole fish wonderment over to us. She came in hand with a near 3 pound fresh red snapper and I got on line to get some help. Who knew it would be so easy?

Outside of smelts for Christmas Eve, we ate our fish breaded and fried. However, we often ordered whole Dover Sole out in restaurants. They would show us the fish and then go back to the kitchen, filet it and return with delicious fish. The fish that was roasted whole always tasted so much better to me, as does any kind of meat cooked with bones. It’s the reason I very rarely purchase boneless chicken breasts, which lack flavor and I opt to always buy a whole chicken.

I’ve come to learn this week that fish is the same way. The bones add flavor and the skin keeps the moisture in. Another advantage to taking home a fish that is  staring back at you is a guarantee of freshness. Check for bright eyes and a moderate briny smell. If the eyes are not clear and bright and or the fish smells too fishy, don’t buy it. Ask your fish monger where the fish came from and when it was caught.

I purchased the red snapper at Whole Foods and everything was prepped, which included trimming the tail, removing the tail fin, pectoral fin,  pelvic fins, the dorsal fin, and the gills, and gutting and scaling it. They offer a method called unzipping, which removes the bones from the whole fish before you take it home. I don’t recommend that because as I’ve mentioned, the bones add flavor. They will also chop the head off for you, but, trust me, the cheeks of the fish has the most amazingly tender, succulent fish, that you would be a fool to do that.

The preparation for grilling or roasting a whole fish is quite easy, when the fish monger takes care of the yucky stuff.

I rubbed the fish with olive oil,  and seasoned with salt and pepper. I made 4  diagonal slits  about an inch and half apart, all the way to the bone on each side of the fish. Each slit and the cavity were stuffed with lemons, limes and various fresh herbs I picked from my garden.  You can find your own way with herbs and  spices, but if you have a beautiful fresh fish, don’t over do it. I set out a garden pesto to eat with the fish, but it was so deliciously perfumed from the fresh herbs and citrus, we didn’t dare add anything more to it.

I put it on the grill at 450 degrees and then turned down the heat to medium to keep that steady temperature.  I set the timer for 30 minutes and I never turned the fish over. You may be tempted to turn the fish, but it could fall apart.  When I took it to the table, I peeled each piece of skin away at the slit and fileted the fish. Remove the top layer of skin, and gently remove the pieces of fish sitting on the bones. Underneath those bones is a lot more fish. This 2. 6 pound fish was more than 4 people could eat. I served the fish with a salad of green beans, potatoes and fresh tomatoes, all prepared with a bit of olive oil and fresh herbs.

The fish was absolutely fantastic. The fish is meaty and mild and absorbed every bit of herb and citrus into the flesh. I have a rather high deck on a corner house and a neighbor walked by and remarked about how wonderful whatever I was making smelled. The aroma of the lemons, limes, basil, dill and thyme was sheer perfection.

There were four of us with good appetites and we still have fish left over. This fish is just a perfect size for four people, and something I know I will be grilling a whole fish again and again.

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Grilling a Whole Fish

Lemons, limes and fresh herbs are stuffed into a whole red snapper and grilled for a succulent fish dinner.

Course Entree

Cuisine African

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 whole red snapper scaled and gutted
• olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 1 lime
• fresh herbs such as basil thyme, parsley, dill
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Rub olive oil over fish. Make sure to oil the bottom of the fish.
• Make 4 slits all the way to the bone on each side of the fish
• Stuff the fish with slices of lemons, limes and fresh herbs.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Allow fish to sit out for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat the grill on high. Place fish on grill.
• Turn grill down. Cook for 25-30 minutes.

Oven Roasting Method

• If using an oven, bake on baking sheet (preferably with parchment paper) at 425 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Do not turn over.

Filet Fish

• Peel skin back. Using spoon and knife, remove the fish off of the bones. The bones will lift off in one piece. There will be a few bones you will miss. Be aware of that.

A video for deboning red snapper.

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