KEY LIME PIE POPSICLES

The unbridled tartness of lime muddled with the irresistible velvety richness of sweetened condensed milk, all cloaked in the sweet familiarity of graham crackers crumbs.  Crazy delicious!

This year Spring has hit the Okanagan Valley with a true blast of summerness.  It's nearly impossible to walk outside, in the last few days, without your face automatically turning skyward, seeking the glorious warmth of golden sunshine. And finding it!  Aaahhhh.

Our forest yard is a symphony of the melodic trill, tweeting, cooing and murmur of orioles, sparrows, mourning doves and humbirds, the happy chirp-chirp-chirping of scurrying squirrels and always, on the side, the percussion of the tireless sprinkler, pffft, pfffft, pfffft, pfffft, easily splashing green everywhere it can, within earshot.

Overhead in the cerulean canopy, puffy, wispy, luminous, exquisite, pillowy, clouds present their beautifully untouchable, moving performance. Encore!

Ethereal, and rather sublime, early summertime pleasures. 

But, um, something   is   missing.....  

I don't know about you, but I'm craving popsicles.

Yup!

I mean, come on, hot, laying-on-the-grass-cloud-animal kinda' days and popsicles just go together.  Like chips & gravy, or carpe & diem, or patios & BBQs.

Which brings me to an early morning last week, as I sipped my always-anticipated first cuppa' coffee of the day, whilst perusing Facebook to see what my friends and family were up to....Wham Bam! there it was.......Smitten Kitchen's status stopped me in my tracks.

Key Lime Pie Popsicles!!!

My tastebuds instantly started jumping up and down in anticipation. 

Key Lime Pie is way up on my happiness list.  And now, Ta da! here it is, in all it's glory....in popsicle form!!!  Genius. 

Total bonus that this is a Smitten Kitchen recipe.  We can always put complete faith in Deb's creations.  She's a wizard in the kitchen!  Tried, true, trusted.

Okay, so what's in these babies?  Yay, only the sheer, simple basics, same same as this popsicle's namesake. Now we're cookin'!

The name speaks of those trickier to find, fun little Key Limes, but absolutely no worries on using regular limes.  They work perfectly.

Before we move onto this easy peasy recipe itself, I find that I would be highly remiss if I did not include this excerpt from Smitten Kitchen's Key Lime Pie Popsicle post:

"But when we tried one, I swear, the world stopped for a second. The lime was so bracingly tart, the sweetened condensed milk was so rich with concentrated creaminess, the exterior crunch of ground cookies so brilliant that we had to sit down for a minute and consider the nirvana of it all. Tina Fey once said that she believes that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich, but I think it’s just because she hasn’t had one of these yet."

You know what else?  These marvelous, tangy, creamy little licks of summer, would be as refreshingly suitable for a dinner party dessert treat, as they would for a lazy afternoon frosty fix.  You're welcome!

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Once again, oodles of big Thanks to Deb of Smitten Kitchen
for another sumptuous recipe!

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KEY LIME PIE POPSICLES - Makes 10, 1/3 cup or 3-ounce popsicles

Approximately 4 large, juicy, regular limes or 6 to 7 several key limes
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup half-and-half (or, 1/2 cup heavy cream + 1/2 cup milk)
Pinch of sea salt
3 cups graham cracker crumbs

Zest however many of the limes needed until you have 2 teaspoons total in the bottom of a medium bowl.  Juice limes until you have 3/4 cup fresh lime juice.  Add juice, condensed milk, half-and-half and salt to zest and whisk together until thoroughly combined.  Pour into popsicle molds  Freeze for about 5 hours, or until completely frozen.

Dip in lukewarm water for 10 seconds or so to unmold each popsicle and press each side into graham crumbs, coating completely.  Devour slowly, lick by lick, nibble by nibble.