Key Lime Pie and Lime in the Coconut Margaritas

It's no secret by this point that I love just about anything citrus-y. Key Lime Pie is one of my favorite desserts, so when I saw a lighter version in my Cooking Light magazine last week I knew it would only be a matter of time before I tried it out. It was meant to be.

 Get this: in order to make the crust less fattening, they called for white chocolate in place of some of the butter. You can see the white flecks in the picture above. When it gets warm it helps to bind the crust together, and when it cools, it helps to make the crust more crunchy. Genius! I tried putting it in my food processor like I did the graham crackers, but I would recommend using a grater or chopping it with a knife to get finer chunks. I will probably use this crust recipe for anything that requires a graham cracker crust from now on!

In order to make the filling less fattening, the recipe calls for using 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt and fat-free sweetened condensed milk. I couldn't find fat-free sweetened condensed milk, so I used 2% reduced fat, and used fat free Greek yogurt instead. It tasted absolutely delicious and you would never know that substitutions were made. Rather than buying key limes I used regular limes. I also only used 2 actual limes for juice and filled the rest of the 1/2 cup with the bottled lime juice shown above. I also used that lime juice for the margaritas (which I'll get to in a second) and I still had quite a bit left over. Overall, I was thrilled at the finished product. It was very easy to make, didn't take a long time, and I'm already picturing making mini pies, or bars with this recipe for upcoming picnics this summer!

Now on to the good stuff. There is a restaurant chain in the area called Margaritas. They of course make delicious margaritas, and serve one called "Lime in the Coconut" margarita, which is like a cross between a pina colada and a margarita. While watching Food Network yesterday morning I saw Bobby Flay make a coconut margarita that looked delicious, but as is par for the course with Mr. Flay, he used complicated ingredients. Mainly pureed coconut flesh. Call me lazy, but I did not want to go through the hassle of buying and cracking open an actual coconut. A quick Google search brought me to a recipe from Martha Stewart, which used cream of coconut instead. Perfect. 

I followed her recipe to the letter the first time and found that I needed more ice, that the toasted coconut did not stick to the rim of the glass, I needed more coconut to cut down on the sour limes, and I used triple sec instead of Cointreau because triple sec is much cheaper. The end result was the perfect mix of coconut and lime and I loved every minute of it!

I will be in Las Vegas this week and Cape Cod the following week so I will probably be unable to post any new recipes for the next couple of weeks, but I will be posting pictures of the food and the sights on my Instagram and Twitter accounts. Enjoy these recipes and I'll see you back here before 4th of July!

Key Lime Pie
Adapted from Cooking Light magazine
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Ingredients

Crust:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 ounce premium white chocolate, grated or finely chopped

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon canola oil

Cooking spray

Filling:

1/2 cup plain fat free (or reduced fat) Greek yogurt

1/2 cup lime juice

1/2 teaspoon lime zest

3 large egg yolks

1 (14-ounce) can reduced-fat (or fat free) sweetened condensed milk

Optional:

frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. To prepare crust, combine crumbs, sugar, salt, and chocolate in a bowl, stirring well to combine. Add butter and oil; toss with a fork until moist. Press crumb mixture into bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until beginning to brown; cool completely on a wire rack.
3. To prepare filling, place yogurt and next 4 ingredients (through milk) in a bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until set. Cool pie completely on a wire rack. Cover loosely with aluminum foil, and chill at least 2 hours. Serve with whipped topping.

Note: Do not cover with plastic wrap while cooling pie in fridge. The wrap will stick to the top of the filling and take the top layer off with it when you go to remove the plastic wrap.

Lime in the Coconut Margaritas

Adapted from Martha Stewart

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Ingredients

1/2 cup lime juice

1 15-oz can of cream of coconut

1/2 cup tequila

1/4 cup triple sec

Ice

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine lime juice, cream of coconut, tequila and triple sec in blender. Fill with ice.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Split between 4 cups.
4. Sprinkle tops with toasted shredded coconut.