If you love the iconic zesty pie, you will fall head over heels for our Key Lime Pie Martini recipe. Made with vanilla vodka, key lime juice, cream of coconut, pineapple juice, and heavy cream, this dessert-inspired cocktail will go down an absolute treat.
Key Lime Martini
PREP TIME 5 min
QUICK TIPS
INSTRUCTIONS
01
1.
Add the vodka, coconut, pineapple juice, key lime juice and cream to a cocktail shaker (without ice)
02
2.
Give it a dry shake for around 30-60 seconds
03
3.
Add ice, close it up and shake again until icy cold
04
4.
Strain into a chilled graham–cracker–rimmed Martini glass
05
5.
Serve
How to rim the cocktail glass for a Key Lime Pie Martini
A traditional Key Lime Pie is baked in a graham cracker crust, so serving your drink with a cracker rim is a classic choice. To rim your martini glass with these crackers, follow our easy steps:
- Pour a little sugar syrup or pineapple juice into a shallow plate.
- Take a few crackers, pop them in a zipper bag, and bash them with whatever you have handy. Something like a rolling pin or wine bottle will do the trick. Keep going until you have cracker crumbs.
- Pour the cracker crumbs into another shallow plate.
- Dip the rim of your martini glass into the simple syrup and then into the cracker crumbs to coat the outside edges.
- You can rim your glasses just before serving or pop them into the freezer, ready to use later.
And that’s how simple it is to make the best Key Lime Pie Martini recipe! And if crackers aren’t your thing, you can rim the glass with toasted coconut, white chocolate shavings, shredded pineapple, or lime zest sugar for something a little different.
You might also like: Easy Syrup Variations for Cocktail Making
What is a dry shake?
Learning how to do a dry shake is one of the first things you’ll do when learning how to make cocktails for the first time. A dry shake is quite simply the art of shaking your ingredients without any added ice in the cocktail shaker. A wet shake, on the other hand, is when you add ice.
The reason you do a dry shake is that the recipe contains cream. Dry shaking is a good way to aerate and emulsify creamy ingredients and egg whites. Giving the Key Lime Martini a dry shake first will ensure it has a lovely light mouthfeel. Dry shaking is usually followed by wet shaking, as is the case in this recipe as well.
You might also like: 9 Things Every Newbie Should Know About Cocktail Making
History of the key lime pie
Legend has it that the iconic key lime pie recipe was created in Florida’s Key West sometime in the late 1800s. It’s believed that because there was no refrigeration or fresh milk in this isolated part of America, sweetened condensed milk was used as an essential ingredient. And so, the key lime pie was created, becoming the official pie of the state of Florida.
But recently, this story was declared false when a Key West historian couldn’t find a key lime pie recipe publication earlier than 1941. What she did find, however, was a recipe that was published in New York nearly a decade earlier, in 1931. The recipe was made using lemons and was made famous by a condensed milk company in New York City.
Chances are the recipe traveled across the country, and eventually made its way south to Key West, where it’s likely that the lemons were replaced with key limes. This variation of the pie’s history has caused quite a stir in Florida, which is why we’re staying out of it. We prefer drinking our pie anyway!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Vanilla vodka, key lime juice, fresh pineapple juice, heavy cream, and cream of coconut.
Sweet and fizzy white or rose wines like Moscato with sweet peach and orange blossom flavors will pair well with a key lime pie.
Coconuts, blueberries, and pineapple are all great flavors that go work with key lime.
