Scrumptious Sugar-Free Key Lime Pie

School's out for the summer, and I'm back in the kitchen. So happy to have a break from coursework, and time to create another low carb recipe! Here in Florida, the summer heat has me craving cool, creamy desserts and icy treats to enjoy. Enter a healthy version of the official dessert of the state of Florida: Key Lime Pie!


This is not your momma's key lime pie...

...or at least if my mother made key lime pie (she grew up in North Dakota), it wouldn't be like this! There are no egg yolks or sweetened condensed milk to be found in this version. With all of the tart, sweet flavor and none of the sugar, this low carb key lime pie will remind you of the slices you've enjoyed in Florida seafood restaurants. The pie has a slightly different texture than the original, though, with its airy, almost mousse-like filling. I can promise you that you won't miss the sweetened condensed milk after tasting this pie. Feel free to serve it liberally with whipped cream. We can indulge in that healthy saturated fat on a low carb eating plan!


I think you'll really like this super easy crust. It's worth making the pie just for the crust alone!


Removing the eggs and using xanthan gum as the binder helps keep the texture nice and crisp. You should already have xanthan gum if you have been doing a lot low carb baking (or following this blog!).


The flavor from the blend of pecan meal and almond meal is phenomenal, but if you prefer, you can use 100% almond meal in this crust. The pecan meal might only be widely available in southern states. Our local Publix has a whole section devoted to products from the George Pecan Co. Their pecan meal is really finely milled and fresh tasting. I use it more often than almond meal sometimes, since I have to grind almond meal myself. Pecans do have higher fat percentage than almond, so a one-for-one substitution of pecan meal for almond meal might not work well in all of your recipes.





Healthy Key Lime Pie


Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:


For Crust:


1 cup blanched almond meal, packed
1/2 cup pecan meal, packed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. NuNaturals pure stevia extract
2 tsbp. granular erythritol, powdered
½ tsp. xanthan gum
3 tbsp. butter, melted
½ tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt


For Filling:


8 oz. cream cheese, softened
7 tbsp. granular erythritol (or other sugar substitute), powdered
1/4 plus 1/8 tsp. NuNaturals pure stevia extract
1/2 cup key lime juice (the bottled kind works well)
1/4 tsp. finely minced lime zest (1/8 tsp. for less tartness)
1 packet (2 tsp.) unflavored gelatin
1 cup heavy cream


Preparation:


For Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.


Whisk together almond meal, pecan meal, cinnamon, stevia, and xanthan gum together in a bowl. Grind erythritol in a coffee grinder to powder it. Whisk into the above mixture. Stir vanilla and salt into melted butter. Add to dry mixture, and knead together dough with hands until everything is distributed evenly throughout the dough. The color of the dough will look even when its ready. Lightly grease a large glass pie dish with butter. Press dough into dish in the shape of a crust, trying to make sure that the thickness is the same all over the pie dish. Poke holes with a fork all over the crust so to ensure that air pockets don't form while it's baking. Bake crust for 14-15 minutes. Make sure to remove crust from the oven once edges are slightly browned. Check the crust a couple of times while it bakes to see if bubbles form. Should you see air pockets rising under the crust, open the oven door, and gently prick those areas with your fork. Place dish on a cooling rack to cool, and wait at least 2 hours for crust to dry out and reach room temperature. You can cover the crust with plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator overnight if you'd like to prepare the filling the next day.


For Filling:
Set cream cheese out on the counter for 2 hours to reach room temperature.


Beat cream cheese with a mixer until smooth and free of lumps. Powder erythritol in coffee grinder. Stir erythritol and 1/4 tsp. stevia into cream cheese, then beat with mixer for 2-3 minutes on high speed to ensure erythritol has dissolved and texture is smooth. Refrigerate mixture while you perform the next step.


Heat key lime juice, covered, in microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes. Add lime zest to hot key lime juice. Whisk gelatin into key lime juice until it has completely dissolved. Let mixture cool for 5-10 minutes, or until no longer hot to the touch. Stir key lime juice mixture into cream cheese mixture. You want the gelatin to start thickening as it cools down. Look for a pudding-like texture as you are stirring the cream cheese mixture around the bowl. If it is not thickening, make an ice bath with another bowl filled with ice and water. Set bowl with cream cheese mixture over the ice bath (making sure water doesn't get into cream cheese mixture!) and stir the cream cheese mixture around bottom of bowl with a spatula. Do this for a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency and is cool to the touch. Remove bowl with cream cheese mixture from ice bath, and set aside.


In a separate bowl, beat heavy cream and 1/8 tsp. stevia until stiff peaks form. Use spatula to fold a dollop of whipped cream mixture into cream cheese mixture, and stir it around a bit. Fold the rest of the whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until texture is fairly even. Scrape filling into pie crust. Refrigerate pie, uncovered, for 3-4 hours, or until texture is firm enough to cut. Serve topped with whipped cream if desired. Pie will keep at least 3 days refrigerated.


Use the same process to whip cream for garnish as you did above for the filling. Add erythritol, stevia, and vanilla extract to taste. If you don't mind a few extra carbs, you can use a little bit of the canned whipped cream.



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But wait, there's more! :) To celebrate the first new recipe of the summer at Healthy Indulgences Blog, I have a surprise for you readers. Leave a comment stating your favorite pie, and email address, and you could win one of the following prizes:


1) A bottle of NuNaturals Liquid Stevia (perfect for your morning coffee!)





2) A bag of xanthan gum (shipped to you from iherb.com)





Feel free to specify whether you'd like to be entered into the drawing for only ONE of the above prizes (if you already have either stevia or xanthan gum).


I wanted to do a giveaway to say "thank you!" for keeping up with this blog, and sending me your emails, even though I've been too busy with school to contribute much to the low carb community and blogosphere for the past year or so. The bottle of Alcohol Free Stevia was part of the generous package full of products I received from Nunaturals (thank you, Ron Redding!) to keep me stocked up and baking with their stevia products. Since I've loved the taste of their NuNaturals stevia since 2008, it's really cool to get that kind of gift from the company! I wanted to disclose this to you, in the interest of making sure you know why I'm going to be using NuNaturals stevia exclusively from now on. The 1 lb container of Nunaturals pure stevia extract is enough to last a lifetime!


I'm halfway through the blog inbox, and will get to your messages after the end of my next semester (since all of my time will be dedicated to an intense academic year starting very soon!).


Again, don't forget to leave your email address in your comment for this post. It's perfectly fine to leave it in the form "healthyindulgencesblog (space) @ (space) gmail . com" to avoid spam. Last time I couldn't get in touch with the winners after drawing their names.


Hope you are having a sweet summer!


Love,
Lauren