Lime Chiffon Pie

St. Patrick's Day is many things.  It can be a day to celebrate luck.  To have potatoes, Irish soda bread, or other things that represent Ireland.  It can be a green-covered day.  But that isn't what St. Patrick's Day is to me.  In fact, it is my brother's birthday.  Which means that he is even more excited about all things green.  Especially around this time.  So I made a green-flavoured pie.  A lime chiffon pie.

Lime chiffon.  Think key lime pie.  Think meringue (as in lemon meringue pie).  Now fluff the two of those together into one pillow of lime.  Slightly tart, with a flawless structure from egg whites, it is undoubtably one of my favourite pies I've ever made.  You just have to do a bit of waiting.  But once your pie crust is baked, you can turn off the oven and whip the pie together (in the most literal sense!), with the fridge doing most of the work.

This post is linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays.

Lime Chiffon Pie
An original recipe by Lauren of Celiac Teen
Ingredients
1 pre-baked gluten-free pie crust
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
5 eggs, separated
1 tbsp lime zest
1/2 tbsp lemon zest
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Steps
Pour water into a medium saucepan and sprinkle with gelatin.  Let stand for a few minutes.  Whisk in 3/4 cup sugar, lime juice and lemon juice until blended.  Then slowly whisk in egg yolks.  Place over medium heat, and cook whisking constantly.  In a couple of minutes, it will have doubled in volume and become foamy.  A few minutes after that, the mixture will begin to thicken a little bit, and there will be a touch of steam.  Just ensure that it doesn't boil.

Take off heat and pour the hot mixture into a large bowl, and stir in the lemon and lime zests.  Refrigerate for 45 to 50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until the mixture becomes thicker and has cooled.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form.  Slowly whip in 1/2 cup sugar, until the whites just hold stiff peaks.

Stir a large spoonful of the egg whites into lime mixture.  Then fold the lime mixture into the egg whites. Fold just until there are no more streaks of white or lime, but do not over fold.  Place the mixture into your baked and cooled pie crust, then refrigerate for 3 hours.

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Before chilling.  It pretty much doesn't move as it chills.  Just becomes a little bit more solid.  We wouldn't want it to float away on us, you know!

The clean cut!  I think it cuts cleaner than most pies.  It's meringue-ish, mousse-ish, and completely totally delicious.  Very light.  Quite easy to eat a lot without feeling that heaviness in your stomach.

Don't lie.  It's begging for you to take a bite.

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Happy Birthday little (sort of.  Stop growing already) Brother!  I made this just for you - it's lime (and lemon!) and green.  You rock and I love you.  

Today was the first day in a long time that I've been hit by the lightheaded overtired train.  Maybe it was the time change, the screwed up sleep schedule, the colds and sore throats that have been going around, the fact that this whole semester I have not missed a day.  Did you hear that?  I only missed one day (today) in this whole semester.  Last year, that number was much more.  Too many more.  I had to switch out of phys ed because I couldn't do the exercise.  I've also figured out something very important about exercise and my body: I can't just stop.  I have to very gradually stop.  So gradually that you barely notice I'm slowing down.  Otherwise it's insta-dizzy.  And I can't feel my arms.  Well, my arms don't feel solid.  It's an inexplicable phenomenon.  But I can recognize it.  That means that I can stop it.  Funny how that works.

Anyways, I hope everyone has an absolutely amazing week!  

xoxo

Lauren

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