Wicked Yummy: Lightened Up Key Lime Pie

Servings: 8

Serving Size: 1/8th of Pie

WW Points+: 6 Calories: 241.2 Total Fat: 2.7 g

I'm not quite sure what Key Lime Pie has to do with Cinco De Mayo, but while looking for a good dessert for the holiday, this one kept coming up. (Along with flan and churros and fried ice cream).I love Key Lime Pie and I figured it would be relatively easy to come up with a low fat, healthy version of this tangy dessert.

If you look on the Weight Watchers database, Key Lime Pie comes in anywhere from 10 to 20 Points+ per slice! I wanted to keep it as authentic as I could but still lower the Points+, fat, and calories significantly. While doing some research for low fat pies, all I could find were key lime pies made with key lime flavored yogurt, gelatin, or cool whip. And almost all of these were simply chilled, not baked. I love the creamy tanginess of real key lime pie and I am not particularly crazy about no-bake pies.

The first time I ever had Key Lime Pie was actually when I was on vacation in the Florida Keys with my family when I was little. I remember thinking it was the best pie I had ever had! I wanted to recreate the flavors of real key lime pie, like I remembered. The recipe for real Key Lime Pie is actually very simple: condensed milk, egg yolks, lime juice, graham cracker crust. That's it. I didn't want to use cool whip or jello so I just had to use reduced fat versions of the regular ingredients.

It came out better than I had expected. It tasted just as sweet and tangy as any key lime pie I have ordered at a restaurant. The crust has just the right amount of sweetness and the filling baked up firm and perfect. I used fresh key limes (all hand squeezed by my loving boyfriend, Matt) but bottled key lime juice would work just fine I'm sure. This is Matt's favorite dessert and he loved this reduced fat version! This would be great as a dessert for any Cinco De Mayo parties this weekend :)

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

8 Low Fat Honey Graham Cracker Sheets ( I used Honey Maid Brand)
2 tbsp unpacked Light Brown Sugar
3 tbsp Fat Free Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1 tbsp Light Butter, melted (I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light)
1 14 oz can Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 Egg Yolks
2/3 cup fresh Key Lime Juice
2 tsp Lime Zest, plus a little more for garnish (regular limes, not key limes)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. (I actually forgot to spray mine and it came out of the pan fine, but better safe than sorry!)

Place Graham Cracker sheets in a ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin. This should produce about 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs.

In a medium mixing bowl, add Graham Cracker Crumbs, Brown Sugar, Greek Yogurt, and Melted Butter. Mash everything together with a fork until all the crumbs are moist.

Pour into the prepared pie plate.

Using your hands, spread the crumbs over the bottom of the dish and halfway up the sides in an even layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 7-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, begin the filling. If using fresh key limes, slice the limes in half and squeeze the juice. A garlic press works very well for this step. Or a bored boyfriend :)

We used a 1 lb bag which I believe held about 30 key limes.

In a large mixing bowl, add Sweetened Condensed Milk, Egg Yolks, Lime Juice, and Lime Zest.

Whisk until mixture becomes smooth. It will be slightly thick.

Pour the key lime mixture into the pre-baked pie crust. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes, or until the center is set but the pie still wiggles when you shake it. It should not brown.

Let the pie cool to room temperature on the counter. Then chill in the refrigerator for a few hours, until cold. This one chilled for about an hour because Matt is very impatient.