Tasty Thursday - Mini Key Lime Pies

I was looking on Pinterest for mini-pie recipes to serve as finger foods at a party, and came across this recipe for whipped key lime pie.  I have been craving pie for a while, so the theme of all the food was mini pies.

I cheated, and used store-bought pie crust.  I firmly believe in taking shortcuts where you can.

I used a biscuit cutter to cut out rounds of dough to fit the mini-muffin tins.  I saw a video where someone used a wine glass, but I happened to have a cutter that worked.

I pricked holes in the dough with a toothpick (it worked much better in the smaller space than the fork).  I baked according to the directions on the package.  I liked the ones made straight from the thickness of the dough right from the package better than the ones that I rolled out from left-over scraps.  No matter how thin I rolled them, they still came out thick and puffy when baked.

After all the crusts were baked, I made the filling.  Just zest the limes and collect the juice.

Whip the cream until soft peaks form.  I used my stand mixer with the whisk attachment.

Then in a separate bowl, whip the sweetened condensed milk, the lime zest, and the lime juice.  Gently fold in the whipped cream.

I used my cookie scoop to  measure the filling into the shells.

I cheated again and used a canned whip cream, which should be done right before serving (it will melt, don't ask me how I know this).  I plan on testing a stabilized whipped cream at some point in the future.

Chill according to the recipe.  These taste much better when they are really cold, so if I make them again, I will only put out a very few at a time.