Key Lime Pie

While in the US, I had some key lime pie for dessert (I'd eaten some in the Netherlands too, but that was a very "culinary" version, whereas this was the real thing). I was determined to make some while at home, and today gave me the perfect opportunity, as we're having people over for dinner for several evenings in a row, and this is not a pie you want to have to eat on your own!
As always, I combined several recipes, to adjust for my own taste and availability of things in Dutch supermarkets. To make a 'real' key lime pie I'd have to use key limes, which are one of those things that you can't buy in the Netherlands, so I used regular lime juice instead. I know this is sacrilage to some people, but really, you can't have everything.

Ingredients:
200 g finely crushed biscuits
100 g butter
3 eggs, split into yolks and whites (make sure that absolutely no yolk gets into the whites!)
1 tin of condensed milk (this comes in 397 g tins, so that's the amount you use)
115 ml lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
80 g sugar

Melt the butter and mix with the biscuit crumbs. Push into your prepared baking tin (which you can line with baking parchment to get the pie out easier when it's done), making sure that you also put it up to the sides so the filling will be properly contained. Put in the fridge to cool.
Put your egg yolks in a bowl and whisk until they are slightly paler and a bit milk-like (recipes often say "fluffy", but my yolks never turn fluffy). Add the condensed milk and whisk for about 3 minutes, until both are well combined. Add the lime juice by small amounts while you keep whisking, and finally add the lemon zest. Pour the mixture into your biscuit base (do not put it back in the fridge).
Now clean your mixer whisks veeery carefully so there is no egg or milk left on them. If you want to be extra handy, also clean the bowl you are going to use by rubbing a little lemon juice over it. This makes your egg whites want to stick less to the bowl, and you will have them whisked much quicker. So put the egg whites into the bowl and whisk until they are white and fluffy and a bit glossy. Add the sugar little by little until it is all absorbed (making sure you don't knock the air out of your egg mixture again). Spoon the mixture on top of the lime mixture, make sure that the peaks do not stick too far above the rest of the pie, as the tips may burn while the rest is still uncooked.

The pie pre-baking.

Bake at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes, until the egg whites on top have turned a nice light brown. Take out of the oven to cool, and when cooled enough put in the fridge for at least 3 hours to fully cool.

Post-baking. Crappy photo, but you can somewhat see the layers.

So taste-wise, I was afraid it'd be too sweet, as the condensed milk was one of the sweetest things I ever tasted. However, it is mostly refreshing, sweet but mostly lime-y and sour-y. To my great surprise, it actually tasted like key lime pie. Or that's what I thought, someone else thought that it tasted too sweet. The egg white foam doesn't really add that much taste, it is a little bit sweet but adds mostly texture, so maybe you want to add some more sugar if you want to get a real effect out of that part.
I will definitely make this again, probably some time next summer when the weather is less grey and autumny and you really need a fresh pie to keep you happy. But even for this weather, it's a nice reminder of summer!