Key Lime Pie

We move house today; after far too long in a not perfect house we’re at last moving into our new home. So I had to mark the occasion with a rather lovely celebratory recipe and this one not only looks wow, but also tastes double wow!

I found a tin of soya condensed milk in my favourite health food shop – it’s not often you come across dairy-free condensed milk in the UK so I just had to buy it, without really having a plan for its use. This tin comes all the way from Brasil, so it seems like a real rare treasure!Sure I could make a banoffi pie but I haven’t had any dairy-free whipping cream in for a while, so that wouldn’t work.

(Btw does anyone else have this experience, as gluten-free become more popular, and dare I say it, more profitable the big supermarkets sell less and less products which are free from other ingredients? It drives me mad – the few and far between staples are suddenly no longer on the shelves and you have to hunt far and wide to replace them.)

So having shelved the idea of banoffi pie (for the time being) I came across key lime pie – perfect! Big S loves citrus and cheesecakes are always a big hit, so surely the combination of the two is a sure fire win. I appreciate that soya condensed milk is hard to come by (apparently you can make your own, check out this recipe) but if possible you MUST MUST MUST make this recipe – it is absolutely divine. There is no overpowering soya taste, just a zesty, creamy unctuous ness which is utterly satisfying and comforting. I easily fooled the non dairy-free with this one (Result ;-))

My version adds a chocolate base as I think chocolate and lime works pretty well, but ginger would be just as nice. Since key limes aren’t readily available in the UK I used usual organic unwaxed variety

Key Lime Pie (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

• 150g Bourbon biscuits, crushed
• 50g dairy- free spread, melted
• 1/2 can condensed soya milk
• 1 pack soya cream cheese (I used tofutti)
• Juice of 1 and 1/2 limes
• Zest of 1 lime

– Mix together the crushed biscuits and melted spread and press firmly into a loose bottomed flan tin
– Place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to firm up
– In a food processor or with a hand whisk, combine the condensed milk, cream cheese and lime juice and zest. Make sure it is super smooth.
– Pour over the biscuit base and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to set
– Remove from the tin and decorate with lime slices