KEY LIME PIE

THE STANDARD RECIPE FOR KEY LIME PIE IS incredibly simple: beat four egg yolks, add a 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, and then stir in one-half cup of lime juice and a tablespoon of grated lime zest. Pour it all into a graham cracker crust, chill until firm, and top the pie with sweetened whipped cream.

It would be lovely if this recipe worked, but we found that it doesn't, at least not to our complete satisfaction. Although the filling does set firm enough to yield clean-cut slices, it has a loose, "slurpy" consistency. We tried to fix the consistency by beating the yolks until thick, as some recipes direct, but this did not help. Nor did it help to dribble in the lime juice rather than adding it all at once, as other recipes suggest. We also made the filling with only two yolks and with no yolks at all (such "eggless" versions of the recipe do exist), but this yielded even thinner fillings.

Still, the time spent mixing Key lime pie fillings in various ways was not a total loss. While in the heat of experimenting, we inadvertently threw the lime zest into a bowl in which we had already placed the egg yolks. When we whisked up the yolks, they turned green, and the whole filling ended up tinted a lovely shade of pale lime. What a great way to dispense with food coloring.

Having found the mix-and-chill method wanting, we decided to try baking the pie. We used the same ingredients as before and simply baked the pie until the filling stiffened slightly, about 15 minutes in a moderate oven. The difference between the baked pie (which was really a custard) and the unbaked pie (which had merely been a clabber) was remarkable. The baked filling was thick, creamy, and unctuous, reminiscent of cream pie. It also tasted more pungent and complex than the raw fillings, because the heat of the oven released the flavorful oils in the lime zest.

The filling is fairly tart and must be overset by whipped cream that has been generously sweetened. Since granulated sugar can cause graininess at high levels, we opt for confectioners' sugar in the topping for this pie.