Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

I bought a bag of key limes this week because one of my all time favourite desserts on earth is key lime pie. The problem is that with only two of us around,  if I make a key lime pie I will most likely eat most of that pie myself. That's not going to make a better person.

Then I thought I would make a key lime creme brulee but that leaves me in the same predicament with another dessert that doesn't really keep for long and so it must be consumed asap and, let's be honest,  I don't need to be eating 4 or 5 servings of either of those desserts.

After searching around I found a recipe for a frozen key lime pie and I realized that I was getting closer to something that I could make and enjoy in small amounts over a longer period of time but who am I kidding. A frozen pie is still a pie and I will eat the whole damned thing.

I keep seeing these recipes for ice cream using whipping cream, condensed milk and whatever add ins you like that doesn't require any sort of special ice cream making equipment. It sounded way too easy but blogger after blogger has been raving about the results. This ice cream from Journey Kitchen, in particular, caught my eye and I have just been kind of waiting for a chance to make it. I thought to myself "Self? why not make key lime ice cream?" Kevin and Amanda has some fabulous ideas about flavouring the basic mixture too that you should check out. I will be kept up nights thinking of all of the delicious flavour combinations that I can churn out with this easy, peasy technique. I saw someone do one using whipped evaporated milk to replace part of the cream but that sort of defeats the purpose. Ice cream isn't supposed to be low fat, it's iced CREAM right?

This way, I can make a nice, big batch and leave it in the freezer and, in theory, I can just have a wee bowl every evening until it's all gone like a civilized adult with a modicum of self control. Well, we will see about that.

Key Lime Ice Cream

2 cups of whipping cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
50 ml freshly squeezed key lime juice
grated lime zest from about 6 key limes (they are tiny so if you are using regular limes, it's probably closer to 1 or 2 limes but do it to taste anyway)
6 squares of graham cracker, crunched up into chunky goodness (the size of the chunks depends on you)

whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
Meanwhile, mix the lime juice and zest into the condensed milk. Make sure to taste it at that point to see if you want it have more lime flavour. Remember you are going to dilute the flavours when you mix it into the 2 cups of whipped cream so if it's too subtle before  you mix it into the cream, it's going to be way too subtle after.
When you are sure you like the balance of limeyness to sweetness, fold in the graham crackers and then fold that entire mixture into the bowl of whipped cream.
Pour this delicious goodness into a freezer container of some sort and freeze if for at least 5 or 6 hrs.

I can't tell you how much we love this ice cream. I took some over to The Neighbour to try out because she she had already told me that she doesn't care for key lime pie OR ice cream all that much. If she was going to love it, I knew we had a winner on our hands. I won't embarrass her by going into great detail about the speed at which she consumed this ice cream, the sounds that emanated from deep within her body or the fact that she licked the bowl because that wouldn't be neighbourly.
Because condensed milk is an important ingredient in key lime pie, it really does taste just like key lime pie. I wasn't sure about the chunks of graham cracker until I tasted it. It's a bowl of tart, creamy, delicious key lime pie if key lime pie wasn't pie but ice cream. Which this is.

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