Gingersnap Key Lime Pie

Every other food blogger is sitting down to write about salads and lentils and oatmeal, but not me. After spending my holidays laid up with various colds and sinus afflictions, I am ready to eat. This gingersnap key lime pie is the perfect January treat - fresh with citrus and spiced up with the surprise of a wintry gingersnap crust.

This recipe is straight out of the pages of the newest Ashley English cookbook, A Year of Pies: A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies. Ashley is a woman after my own heart as she lives the seasonal locavore dream. This book is brimming with both sweet and savory pies (emphasis on the former), and as the title suggests, it is organized by season which I always appreciate. All too often I pick up a cookbook and drool over the recipes only to realize that the author must live in a climate that has an everlasting growing season (hmmm, California?) and only the freshest of all produce will do. So it is nice to turn to a chapter entitled "Winter" and find many seasonal beauties. (Brandy and Spice Apple Hand Pies? Yes, please!)

Ashley English's recipes are also not overly tricky, and this key lime pie is actually one of the easiest pie recipes I have ever made! It does require that one ingredient that might not be so easy to find: key limes. I was happy to find a rather inexpensive bag of them at my grocery store, but I hear that bottled key lime juice works just as well. (I also would go ahead and use just regular old limes.) This recipe is actually lighter on the lime juice than many other key lime pie recipes (and thus, a bit less tart). However, I thought it had an excellent balance of tart, creamy, and sweet.

Gingersnap Key Lime Pie

Gingersnap Crust:

• 10 oz gingersnap cookies (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 6 tbs unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

• 1/4 cup key lime juice
• 3 tbs grated lime zest
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 3 large egg yolks, beaten

1. (Make the crust) Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly butter a 9-in pie pan and set aside. Crush the gingersnaps by pulsing them in a food processor. Combine the crushed gingersnaps and melted butter in a bowl. Stir until incorporated. Press the mixture into the pan, pressing halfway up the sides. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool.

2. (Make the filling) Add to bowl and whisk together until fully blended the lime juice, zest, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks.

3. Pour the filling into the prepared cool crust and bake 15 minutes. Cool completely before serving.