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This morning, republishing a delicious recipe from last summer, as I know many of you made and loved it then, and — the time is nigh! (Excessive heat warnings in D.C. this week!) I also wanted to use this post to mention that — by Magpie request! — I have transferred all of my recipes to cards that you can download here, and will be embedding them into all my recipe posts so you can pin them / download them / print them more easily. (I know they can be hard to access when embedded in text in a post.)
Enjoy!
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Mr. Magpie is impressively disciplined about avoiding food waste — he will eat leftovers for days, freeze excess using his beloved vac pac system, nearly shave off his fingers on the mandolin to avoid discarding the heel of a clove of garlic, and prioritize wilting produce in the week’s menu. This is one of the many ways in which he expresses his passion for food, which, as I wrote elsewhere, reflects his attractive openness to joy.
Last week, he was humming around the house looking for a good use for the better part of a pint of really fancy heavy cream — the kind that comes in a thick glass bottle from a local creamery and costs about $10 — that had gone unused. “Whipped cream?” I suggested, unhelpfully. He turned more practically to Serious Eats and found a simple recipe for an icebox pie with only a handful of ingredients and enlisted the aid of my children in making it.
This is the perfect dessert for a hot summer gathering. It feeds a crowd, can be prepared well in advance, and calls for only four ingredients. Your children will delight in helping you make it, and it strikes me as something difficult to mess up. Oh, and it’s delicious. Tangy and custard-like, it’s as though key lime pie and pudding had a baby. And I love a chilled dessert. Keeps beautifully and feels so refreshing during these full-humidity D.C. days.
You might even have all of these items on hand — try it this weekend!
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Serious Eats’ Lime Cracker Pie.
2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 pint heavy cream
1/2 cup lime juice plus 1 tablespoon zest from 8 limes
10 ounces (about 2 1/2 sleeves) Ritz crackers
Combine milk and heavy cream in a large bowl. Add lime juice and whisk until thickened, about 1 minute. Spread 1 cup filling on bottom of deep-dish pie plate or 11-inch oval casserole. Top with single layer of Ritz crackers. Repeat, alternating layers of filling and crackers until pie plate is full (finish with a layer of filling). Sprinkle with grated lime zest. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight. Serve.
Source here.
Post-Scripts.
+What would your last meal be?
+What do you eat when your fridge is bare? (You will be hungry reading the comments.)
+Some of our favorite places to eat and things to do in D.C. — I need to update this soon with more recent finds!
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Shopping Break.
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+Some of our favorite kitchen gear here and here.
+Only a few left, but I love this crochet dress from J. Crew.
+Another great lifeguard-style hat — this one is packable and on sale.
+I love a boxy striped tee. This one is SO cute, and under $50.
+My beloved VB vest, now available in denim….!!! SO GOOD with white jeans.
+Wore these boxer-style shorts in cherry red the other day over my ladybug swimsuit (see me in the outfit here) and loved the look — a little longer on the leg and in a very polished cotton (almost a satin finish). A great piece if you like the boxer short trend but find it a little too un-done for you. Also: SoldOut is offering us 15% off with JEN15!
+Another longer-boxer-style-short option for less: these striped ones.
+Speaking of shorts, I ordered these gauze ones after Amy raved about them. Perfect for layering over swim or for lounging around the house. No one does gauze like Alice Walk. On a related note, love this gauze-like $20 pareo from Gap in the cherry red.
+One of my favorite children’s brands, Oso + Me, is running a great sale. About half of my son’s shorts are these, so I purchased a few of the discounted colors a size up for next summer. Great length, great colors. I also ordered one of these striped LS polos in anticipation of cooler weather in a few…months. Cute fall moment.
+Have been seeing this exact Matteau dress all over the place lately. My friend Stephanie was mentioning that it’s flattering on a wide range of body types and works with many different style aesthetics. Chic chic chic. Look for less here, and more drop-waist styles here.
+Another late-stage Nordstrom sale discovery: this rollneck cotton stripe sweater. Reminds me of my La Ligne!
+This cute little bag reminded me of the Zimmermann one I shared over the weekend – but a fraction of the price.
+$40 striped cardigan. Would pair this with some white eyelet or linen pants, or my white denim shorts!
+Dorsey’s popular Gwen earrings are BACK.
I have made this SO many times since you posted it. It is delicious. Even though the recipe says to chill it for 2-3 hours, I like it best done the day before as the crackers are no longer crunchy. You would never guess they were Ritz crackers! I have also done a variation using a package of instant banana pudding instead of lime juice and some vanilla wafers instead of Ritz crackers.
Ooh delicious!!! Thanks for sharing these notes! xx
Oooh I am intrigued by this recipe — I love key lime pie, and this sounds like a more heat-wave friendly version! Thank you for sharing this, it reminds me of something similar I used to make, but with graham crackers, cream + condensed milk filling, and sliced mangoes! SO delicious, you must try it! But please use the sweet Alphonso mangoes or Manila mangoes, if you can find them — not those really firm and tart ones that you would use for salsa/pickles/other savory preparations.
YUM! That sounds so good. We love mangoes! Can you share a recipe??
xx
It’s one of those no-recipe desserts! I never really measured, and adjusted the quantity of condensed milk according to the sweetness level I prefer (which is not so sweet, especially if you have peak-of-summer sweet mangoes). I’d say make it the way you would make the lime pie you shared here, just swap graham crackers and mangoes.
Got it – thank you!! Going to try!
Yum! Will have to remember this next time I have leftover cream. gotta love a soup or pasta recipe that calls for “2T of heavy cream” or something equally unreasonable!
My go-to for using up heavy cream is Dorie Greenspan’s cream scones. Super easy to mix up! I throw in whatever dried fruit or chocolate chips I have, and freeze the unbaked scones on the baking sheet before sealing them in a bag to keep in the freezer. Then I can bake however many I need for breakfast without having to make from scratch! Just brush with milk or cream, sprinkle with sanding sugar, and add a few minutes to the baking time since the scones are frozen. Delish! I have done this so much that I now joke to my husband that I feel anxious if there are no scones in the freezer, ha.
Oo this sounds delicious! Love the idea of “emotional support scones.” Haha 🙂
xx
So intrigued by this salty/sweet/tart combo and how would it taste with graham crackers or vanilla wafers in lieu of ritz crackers?! Also reminded me of Bill Smith’s Atlantic Beach pie made with a saltine crust. My favorite summer dessert to make (and share) is key lime pie so I’ll be trying this out ASAP, thanks!
Hi Cortney! We read elsewhere that you can absolutely swap in vanilla wafers, graham crackers, chocolate graham crackers, and even saltines! Would be fun to play around with that, or just remember to make use of whatever you have on hand!
xx
Update- tried it with ginger snaps and refrigerated overnight and it was divine! Also delicious frozen and can easily halve the recipe to make smaller portion as you may be tempted to grab a decadent spoonful every time you open the fridge!
YAY! Thanks for reporting back! Gingersnaps are such a good call!
xx
This (“Whipped cream?” I suggested, unhelpfully.) literally made me LOL.
I am going to try this recipe out this weekend! Perfect for these hot DC summer weekends, as you said. It also reminded me that I have been wanting to try out the “Salted Margarita Bars” recipe on NYT Cooking, so lots of lime desserts in my future.
Yay! So glad — let me know what you think of both the recipes!!
xx
This recipe has definitely caught my attention—I’m a big fan of key lime pie, and this seems like a perfect, refreshing twist for hot weather! Thanks for sharing it; it reminds me of a similar dish I used to make. Can’t wait to try this one!