When we went out for dinner for my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I had a key lime martini. Its key ingredients were listed on the menu as lime, vanilla, and vodka, and surprisingly, it tasted just like eating a piece of key lime pie. Which is to say, I had to keep myself from ordering another. A couple of days later, I decided I wanted to make another batch of popsicles, and came up with the idea of making a key lime pie version of these lemon vodka cream pops. I made mine with my homemade vanilla extract, which is only about a month into the 2-3 months it is supposed to steep, so its vanilla flavor is more like the strength of a vanilla vodka. But you can easily substitute vanilla extract. If you’re a teetotaler, sorry to tell you, but vanilla extract is made with alcohol. You could probably use vanilla sugar or paste, but make sure you have some sort of vanilla, because it’s key to achieving the faux pie flavor.
Key Lime Pie Popsicles
Ingredients
5 medium limes
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup 1% or 2% milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. table salt
2 tsp vanilla extract or 2 Tbsp vanilla vodka
Instructions
Remove all of the zest from the limes using a citrus zester. Set the limes aside.
Combine the lime zest, cream, milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat. Let steep at room temperature, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
Squeeze 2/3 cup juice from the limes. Stirring constantly, slowly pour the lime juice into the cooled cream mixture. Stir in the vanilla extract or vanilla vodka.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a 4-cup glass measure (or any container with a spout for easy pouring), pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Divide the mixture among eight 3-oz. pop molds and freeze overnight. (I usedĀ these bar molds
this looks very intriguing!! I just became a fan of key lime, and had recently been obsessed with key lime ice cream by Ben&Jerry’s…I’m very tempted to try this recipe…sounds really good!