Lime Chili Meringue Pie

In the search for other interesting pie flavors, I came up with this one.  I'm not a huge fan of key lime pie, but this spicy twist is really good.

Ingredients:
10 graham crackers
1/2 cup of sugar
6 tablespoons of melted butter
zest of 4 limes
1/2 cup of lime juice
4 eggs
1 14oz can of condensed milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
3/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of water

Directions:
Pulse together graham crackers and sugar in a food processor.  Drizzle in melted butter.  Press into a pie plate.  Refrigerate.  Preheat oven to 300oF.  Bake crust for 10 minutes.  Whisk zest, juice, egg yolks (put the whites off to the side for now), condensed milk, and vanilla until fully combined.  Pour into crust.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Increase oven temperature to 400oF.  Whip the egg whites, cream of tartar, and cayenne pepper until frothy (but not yet at soft peak stage).  Bring the sugar and water to a boil without stirring.  Then let it come up to 240oF.  Gently pour the sugar down the side of the bowl while beating the egg whites at high speed.  Continue to whip until the meringue is room temperature and reaches stiff peak stage.  Spoon or pipe the meringue onto the lime filling.  Bake for 5-7 minutes to brown the meringue.  You could also use a butane torch for this step.  Cool to room temperature, then chill at least two hours before serving.

The combination of the buttery graham cracker crust, the thick tart custard, and the sweet and spicy meringue makes for a very well balanced pie.  It's not to sweet, or too tart.  However, the meringue is very spicy by itself, so don't go taking a big bite of just the meringue.  You will regret it as your soul slowly burns away.

Also, four limes won't give you a 1/2 cup of juice, so I supplemented what they gave me with bottled lime juice.  Otherwise, you may need up to 10 limes.

Piece out!
Justin