Classic Key Lime Pie Recipe with Italian Meringue

• Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC 350ºF.
• In a blender mix the egg yolks and the condensed milk for 3 minutes then add the zest and mix for 3-5 more minutes. The mixture will turn very thick and hot {fun chemical reactions}.
• Pour the filling into the crust base then put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until it puffs up and become a bit golden.
• Let it cool then chill for at least 3 hours or overnight {it’s even better but I couldn't wait LOL}.

For the Meringue

• In a bowl of a stand mixer with the wire whisk attached, place the egg white and whip it on medium-high speed. Make sure the bowl is dry and clean.
• In a small pan, heat the water and the regular sugar to create caramel sauce. It will gradually become thicker. You will know when it’s ready when you take some of it with a skimmer and blow softly and you see bubbles going through the wholes of the skimmer. =D. Turn off the heat.
• When the egg white is at soft peaks, add the icing sugar and mix for 3 minutes and pour the hot caramel into the beating egg white very slowly and steady. After all of the sugar mixture is added, increase the speed to high and beat until the bowl is cool to the touch. It could take about 5-10 minutes. You can check out a more detailed recipe for Italian Meringue HERE.
• Place the meringue on top of the pie the quickly. Once the meringue sets up, it’s hard to work with it. If this ever happens, you just need to put it back into the mixer and whip until stiff peaks form again.
• To decorate, I used the back of a tablespoon and I pressed it against the meringue and pushed it up many times all over the meringue. It forms those cute peaks. The final touch was extra lime zest spread all over the pie.