Key Lime Pie Fudge

I absolutely love key lime pie, so when I saw a recipe for key lime pie fudge it took me all of .25 seconds to start writing down the ingredients on my grocery list. I had high hopes for this, and it did not disappoint. It's insanely easy to make. The only hard thing about this is keeping yourself from eating it all, because this stuff is addictive!

I thought this was really good the way it is, but when I make it again I think I'll increase the lime juice a little more. That's just a personal preference though. I like my citrus desserts to be really tart! I also added a pinch of salt to the fudge, which I think is necessary to cut the sweetness from all the white chocolate. With summer bbq's right around the corner, I have a feeling this will be making its way into my kitchen a lot!

Key Lime Pie Fudge
Recipe: Slightly adapted from Dozen Flours

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1-1/4 cups finely crushed graham crackers
• 3 cups or 4, 4-oz bars of good quality white chocolate, finely chopped
  
• 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon finely grated Key lime zest, about 5-6 Key limes
  
• 1/4 cup key lime juice – freshly squeezed is better

Directions:

1. Line a square 8"x8 baking pan with foil or parchment paper, extending it up and over pan (this helps you get it out of the pan later). Butter sides and bottom of the pan, especially the corners. Set aside.
2. To make the crust: Preheat oven to 375. In a medium sized bowl, melt butter in them microwave. Stir in sugar with a fork, braking up any lumps. Add crushed graham crackers and toss to mix well. Spread evenly into the baking pan and bake for 4 to 5 minutes or until edge is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
   
3. Stir white chocolate and sweetened condensed milk in a large heavy saucepan over low heat just until chocolate is melted and all the lumps are gone. Remove from heat and stir in zest and juice. Spread mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
4. Cover and chill for two hours or overnight. Lift the fudge from pan using edges of foil. Peel off foil and use a heavy non-serrated knife to cut the fudge into one-inch pieces. (Tip: Keep a damp kitchen towel handy to clean off the knife after each cut. This will keep give your fudge a cleaner appearance.) Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

White Chocolate Key Lime Macadamia Nut Cookies

Yes, that's right... another post involving key lime. That's because I bought a bottle of key lime juice the other day to make key lime pie ice cream and I still have half a bottle burning a hole through my fridge (did that work?).

All day long I kept thinking about what I should make with my key lime juice. Key lime pie, key lime tartlets, key lime bars, key lime meltaways? I decided on the key lime cookies because I had all the ingredients on hand. But the good news is, I still have key lime juice left so I predict another key lime flavored treat in the near future. (Read: if you know any must make key lime recipes, send them my way please!)

These cookies are really good. They are basically just white chocolate macadamia nut cookies kicked up a little bit with the addition of lime juice and lime zest. The lime is subtle, not overpowering. It's not the first thing you taste when you bite into the cookie but the lime flavor creeps in as you chew.

I took my new favorite cookie base and subbed the chocolate chips with white chocolate, then added macadamia nuts and key lime. And let me stress again that I cannot say enough good things about this cookie recipe. It is hands down my go to cookie recipe, no matter what I'm adding in. I've tried the NY Times cookie recipe, I've tried AB's "The Chewy", I've tried the Nestle Tollhouse recipe, and I've tried countless other recipes... and you know what? They've got nothing on this recipe! Actually that's not entirely true. The NY Times recipe did teach me a couple valuable lessons.

1. Salt. The only thing I changed to the base of the cookie recipe was to increase the salt content. And I'm sure a little sprinkling of sea salt right before they go into the oven wouldn't hurt either.
2. Refrigerate the dough before baking. The NY Times article explains more of the science behind this, but it basically just adds to the depth of flavor. I also find that it prevents the cookies from being too flat and spreading too much. I didn't leave it in for a whole 36 hours (who could?), but even a couple hours does some good here!
   

Recipe: Adapted from AllRecipes
Makes about 36 cookies
Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons key lime juice
• Zest of 1 lime
  
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line cookie sheets wiht parchment paper.
   
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, lime juice, lime zest, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and macadamia nuts by hand using a wooden spoon.
   
4. Chill dough in fridge.
   
5. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.
   
6. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

Move over Oreo Cookie Cookies, I have new favorite recipe!

If you like key lime pie, you will love this recipe. It literally tastes like someone threw a key lime pie into my ice cream maker.

This recipe is seriously good enough to justify buying an ice cream maker if you don't have one already.

It is by far the easiest ice cream recipe I have come across. No stove, no blender, no strainer. Just a bowl, a whisk, and an ice cream maker. I had a few doubts about the recipe because it doesn't use any eggs, but the result far exceeded my expectations. It has a really great, almost light, texture. It's not super rich and creamy which pairs will the citrus flavor. It's perfect for summer!


The recipe calls for graham crackers to be added in, but when I made these ginger cookies the other day I saved a couple since I knew I'd be making this ice cream later in the week. The ginger cookies were the perfect match for the ice cream, both in texture and in flavor.

The original recipe also calls for 2% milk and fat free sweetened condensed milk, but I used whole milk and regular sweetened condensed milk. I think next time I'll try it the way it was originally written to compare.

Recipe: Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup bottled Key lime juice (such as Nellie and Joe's)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• Dash of salt
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 6 graham crackers (1 1/2 cookie sheets), coarsely crushed, divided
• Key lime wedges (optional)

Directions:

Combine first 5 ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Pour mixture into freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Stir 1/3 cup graham crackers into ice cream. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container, and cover and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Sprinkle each serving with 1 teaspoon graham crackers. Garnish with lime wedges, if desired.