Mojito Pie with Rum Whipped Cream can be made in less than an hour and is the answer to your summer dessert dreams! Creamy, delicious, and impressive-looking, yet ridiculously easy.
This recipe is a direct response to the hilariously unfunny weather Mother Nature has graced us with here in the Colorado mountains. Guys, it’s freezing. It’s been snowing at my house all weekend. It’s late June. AKA the Summer Solstice. AKA well past winter.
Well, whaddya gonna do. Instead of being mad about it, let’s just pretend it’s not happening, maybe? It’s time to manifest summer with sunny, bright flavors.
I tried to think of a recipe that embodies a cheery, tropical climate, and mojitos came to mind. It’s a classic pairing: lime, mint, and rum. Just thinking about it sends my brain to the beach. But although this insane weather is arguably a reason to self-medicate with cocktails, it doesn’t make an icy drink super appealing. The same flavors in pie form, though? Yes, please.
I love this recipe for its simplicity. The filling is luscious and creamy with only four ingredients: limes, mint, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. Mix them together, pour into the crust, and bake. Easy! And festive!
MAKING THE CRUST
This classic graham cracker crust is super easy. You can buy pre-ground graham cracker crumbs, or blitz full crackers in the food processor. Add a pinch of salt, a little brown sugar and melted butter for a caramel-ly flavor, then press it all into a pie plate. Bake it briefly to set it while you make the filling.
THE FILLING
For the filling, we start as we would to prepare the cocktail: by muddling fresh mint with lime juice. After muddling the leaves, I like to let the mixture steep for a while to let the acid continue to break the leaves down, thoroughly infusing the tart juice with minty goodness.
Then we whisk together some sweetened condensed milk with a few egg yolks and add zest from the limes along with the mint-infused lime juice (straining the leaves out first).
Though many creamy pie recipes require making a somewhat fussy stovetop custard, chemistry does the heavy lifting for you in this one. The acid in the lime juice bonds with the protein in the milk and eggs to solidify the filling, so baking is really only necessary to cook the eggs and set the texture.
I’m not a huge fan of rum (chalk that up to a single traumatic overindulgence in high school), so I wasn’t super excited about adding it to the pie filling. But rum does have a pleasant, sweet, toasty character that’s great with mint and lime, and if we’re going to call this a mojito pie, it really should be included, right?
My compromise is a single tablespoon in the whipped cream topping. Just enough to convey the idea of rum without hitting you in the face with it. I think it works brilliantly. Depending on your personal rum whipped cream tolerance, you can add just a little around the edges, as I’ve done, or slather it all over the top,
Now how summery does that look? Let’s make one now, as we’re flipping Mother Nature the bird. Just kidding, Ma, love you! Send the sun back, please!
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Mojito Pie with Rum Whipped Cream
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: one nine-inch pie
Description
This quick-and-easy summer dessert transforms classic key lime pie into a luscious, minty mojito flavor bomb, topped with rum-infused whipped cream.
Ingredients
GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 full crackers)
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
pinch of salt
6 TB unsalted butter, melted
FILLING
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 TB lime zest (from about two limes)
1/2 cup (*or more, to taste), fresh-squeezed lime juice (3-4 limes)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
4 large egg yolks
WHIPPED CREAM
1 cup heavy cream
3 TB granulated sugar
dash of vanilla extract
1 TB dark rum (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Zest two limes and set zest aside. Squeeze 1/2 cup of juice into a measuring vessel or bowl, then muddle the mint leaves in the juice, crushing gently to release the flavor. Set aside and allow the juice and mint to steep.
FOR THE CRUST
In a food processor, add crushed graham crackers and blitz into uniform crumbs. Add the brown sugar and salt and pulse briefly to combine, making sure there are no lumps of either graham cracker or brown sugar. Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse until the mixture begins to clump together. Dump into a 9-inch pie plate and use the bottom of a drinking glass to press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom and sides. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool briefly.
FOR THE FILLING
Strain the minty lime juice and discard the leaves. In a medium bowl or large glass measuring vessel, whisk together the condensed milk and eggs. Add the zest and juice and combine thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove and allow pie to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until fully chilled (at least one hour).
FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a medium bowl if using a hand mixer), add the cream and, using the whisk attachment, whip until the cream begins to thicken. With the mixer running, add the sugar in a steady stream, then the vanilla and rum, if using. Continue to whip until the cream stands up in stiff peaks.
Decorate using the method of your choice: use a piping bag to garnish decoratively, or simply slather the cream on top of the pie. Garnish with mint leaves and slices of fresh lime. Serve chilled.
Notes
… TIP: zest limes before juiciing! Much easier!
… Before juicing your limes, roll them energetically on a countertop to loosen the membranes and release the juice.
… this pie is quite sweet; if you prefer a tarter lime flavor, add an extra tablespoon or two of lime juice.
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