(refresh August 2024) Let me start by saying that I don’t like key lime pie. Don’t get me wrong, I love pie… just not key lime pie. Cold, custard-y pies have never been my thing. So when a good friend of mine went on a key lime pie baking binge one summer, I wasn’t thrilled. This pie changed my mind. It is as light and airy as crisp, springtime air, with a tangy, vibrant flavor reminiscent of the place where Key Limes originate – The Florida Keys. It also isn’t sickeningly sweet like so many restaurant-grade key lime pies. The luxuriously silky whipped cream topping allows you to control a bit of the sweetness as well. In short, this pie is spring and summer, Florida, and sunshine in dessert form, and it has been made, at this point, over a dozen times. And, yes, you can make it with your run-of-the-mill Persian limes if you can’t find Key Limes.

what you need

Crust

1 1/2 cups finely ground Graham crackers

2 tablespoons sugar

7 tablespoons butter, melted

salt

Filling

1 1/2 tablespoons lime zest

3 large egg yolks

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

2/3 cup fresh lime juice (from ~10-12 Key Limes or 3-5 Persian limes)

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar

how to make it

Make crust. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine Grahams, sugar, and salt in bowl and mix. Mix in butter until all Grahams are thoroughly coated and press crust with fingers into the bottom of a glass or ceramic pie dish. I like to add a dash of cinnamon to my crusts. Bake crust for ~10 minutes until the Grahams begin to darken in color.

Make filling. Beat zest and egg yolks together until the yolks begin to thicken, ~5-7 minutes. Add condensed milk and continue to beat until thick, ~3 minutes. Stir in lime juice until completely combined. Pour mixture into pre-baked pie crust and bake for another ~10 minutes, or until filling is set. Place pie in fridge to cool completely before topping, ~1-2 hours.

Make topping. Whip cream with desired amount of sugar. Pile and spread cream on top of pie. It is not necessary to spread cream all the way to the edges; just do what you feel. Chill pie an additional 2-3 hours to ensure it is completely cool before slicing. Top with Graham cracker crumb sprinkles, lime zest curls, and/or lime wedges.

#saltlife

I am from Melbourne Beach, Florida. From a long, skinny barrier island that runs some 100 miles down the East Coast of the state, beginning at Cape Canaveral and the home of NASA and ending level with Lake Okeechobee. Only accessible via bridge (albeit short ones), Melbourne Beach is a magical place in Florida insofar as it is one of the last places in Florida to have escaped abrasively flamboyant tourism. Disney World does not reach there, and it is still entirely possible to find a beach without another person on it and kayak a river in the company of manatees and dolphins. One of the best things about Melbourne Beach (aside from perennial sunshine) is the width of the island itself, at times no more than 1/4 mile wide, meaning you can get from a brackish fishing oasis to the Atlantic Ocean in 5 minutes on foot. Floridians can be a little cultish when it comes to Florida identity. When you live in a place where more than 85% of the population are tourists, it really means something to be a Local.

So let’s talk about some Melbourne Beach gemstones.

Longdoggers. Longdoggers is the quintessential Melbourne establishment. The original sits right on A1A beachside, but with 6 different locations, you’re never far from killer waffle fries and house-brewed Hatteras Red beer (brewed just across the bridge at Intracoastal Brewing). Longdoggers sells a variety of LOCAL t-shirts and actually lives into that brand, sponsoring many of the local surf competitions and recreational sports teams. It also sponsors local beach cleanups and has a strong commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its establishment. As they say, “we live here.”

Sunrises. Obviously, on this side of FL, the sunrises are better than the sunsets. I’ll keep it simple. Don’t miss them. Head to the beach, consider a sunrise beach run, then over to The Blueberry Muffin for… a blueberry muffin.

German Food. Oddly enough, some of the best German food I have had outside of Germany is served in a house on the riverfront in south Melbourne Beach. Cafe Coconut Cove is local, secluded, authentic, and pretty romantic.

South Beaches. I’ve noticed that the Satellite Beach and Indialantic beaches have become more and more crowded in recent years, with expanded parking and lower speed limits on A1A due to crowds. For a more secluded beach experience, head south. Beaches such as Ponce de Leon beach will have a fraction of the folks.

Kayaking. There are about 100 places to kayak and paddleboard in Melbourne, but, again, for a more authentic and remote experience, consider heading south. To rent a kayak and head out among the dolphins, you’re looking for Honest John’s Fish Camp.

Fresh Fish. The freshest fish in Melbourne is obviously caught yourself, but if a fishing charter isn’t on the agenda, there are several places to get fresh catch. (If a fishing charter is on your list, Captain Nathaniel Lemmon’s river fishing charters are solid). Clayton’s in Rockledge or The Green Turtle on Eau Gallie both have fresh selections.

Causeway Runs. There are three main causeways leading to the Melbourne Beach: 192, Eau Gallie, and Pineda. 192 will provide the easiest run as it is the shortest of all three bridges. Pineda would be the best run as it is the tallest and crosses two rivers: both the Indian River and the Banana River. But there is no sidewalk. Epic fail Melbourne, FL city planners. Eau Gallie causeway is your ticket. At medium height and with ample sidewalk, it provides wonderful views running from mainland to beachside, then on down Riverside Drive.

Rocket Launches. Melbourne is a unique place to watch a rocket launch. If you’re up near Pineda on the beachside or at one of the Patrick Air Force Base beaches, the sonic boom will ripple the water around your waist. SpaceX is sending something up once every couple of weeks these days and also continuing to practice its re-entry and water landings, which can be fun to watch.

Medovik (Honey Cake)

Medovik - Russian Honey Cake

First off, while I am not Russian in the slightest, I am an avid lover of honey, molasses, maple syrup, and most things stickily sweet (See Moravian Spice Birds). I also favor both cookies and pie over cake, so the fact that this cake is comprised of multiple cookies is a plus. Russian Honey Cake is … delicate. Its flavor is gentle; mildly tangy and mildly sweet. And its form gives way to a slightly haphazard layering that gives this cake an artistry that the traditional vanilla-with-chocolate-frosting simply does not have. While it is best made over a 24-36 hour period, it also keeps much longer than most cakes, and gets better with each day that it rests in the fridge. Without further ado, I give you Medovik.

what you need

1/2 cup local, fresh honey

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 – 4 cups flour

A healthy supply of parchment paper

> > > Filling

2 cups plain Greek yogurt

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2-4 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup honey

> > Backstory,

or “Why This Russian Cake Has A Snake On Top.”

Clubs. I have never been a big “club” person (referring both to rage-y modern-day college brothels and organized groups for social exchange around a shared interest). Yet here I am, 30 years old, a member of a club.

I am joined together with a group (alright, three) esteemed women who have all had to endure a modern hardship of the highest degree:

a snake… in the house.

In the year that would not end (2020), all three of us somehow ended up with one snake varietal or another in our living rooms (also, on the stairs, on the dining room table, pretty much everywhere a snake should never be). From garden snakes to black racers, snakes of all sizes (4 inches to 4 feet) penetrated the otherwise sanctimonious confines of our respective homes and left us each, in turn, sleepless, squirmy, and unable to cross the room without ALL the lights on for several weeks.

We held our inaugural Snake Sisters meeting in my little kitchen nook on the 12^th day of October on a particularly gloomy Virginian day. In a brazenly delicious show of solidarity, and to represent the suffering we each been forced to endure, I set out to make a “snake cake,” which somehow became a Russian Honey Cake with a grahammed-up stencil snake on top.

Of course, you are free to use whatever stencil you want… it is my deepest hope that someday we will live in a world where snake cakes are no longer required to uplift the weary. And when that day comes, I will simply tell everyone that this cake opens the Chamber of Secrets if you speak to it in Parseltongue.

how to make it

Make cookies. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar, honey, and butter over medium heat until it darkens and bubbles slightly (~ 5 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool slightly while beating the three eggs. This part is tricky. You need to incorporate the eggs into the honey mixture slowly, otherwise the eggs will scramble. One tiny pour at a time and continuous whisking will do the trick. Stir in flour, salt, and vanilla. This dough is going to be stiff… super stiff. You may need to add flour if the dough isn’t coming together enough to handle.

Once you can handle the dough, divide it into 8 hunks (yes, “hunks,” technical term). On a piece of parchment paper, roll out each hunk into an 8 or 9 inch round, flouring as you go. The round will be thin… super thin. Place an 8 or 9 inch plate on the dough and cut out the cookie with a sharp knife, saving the little fringe bits as well (you will need these for the topping). Bake each cookie until the edges begin to darken, ~7-8 minutes. After you bake each cookie, bake the fringe bits until crispy, ~5 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely. Note: you can make these cookies the day before if convenient.

Make filling. Beat the heavy whipping cream to medium peaks and sweeten slightly with sugar. Mix honey together with Greek yogurt, then fold in whipping cream.

Make cake. Prepare your cake plate with little wedges of parchment paper (wedges, not one whole piece). When the cake is complete, you can pull each wedge out from underneath the cake leaving a spotless cake plate for presentation. Place a dollop of filling in the center of all pieces of parchment and place a cookie on top. Working iteratively, place dollops of filling on the top of each cookie, spreading the filling out to 75% of each cookie before placing another cookie on top.

When all 8 cookies are in place, spread filling generously on the top, then whatever is left on the sides (you likely won’t cover all of the brown cookie on the sides. It’s okay. This cake looks good messy).

Decorate cake. Grind the cooked crispy bits from the sides of the cookies into a crumble. Sprinkle over cake in desired pattern or use a stencil (see notes below). If the filling begins to separate or becomes runny, simply place the cake in the fridge for an hour or so to harden up. I left the cake in the fridge overnight before decorating it. Ideally, it will sit in the fridge for several hours before consumption so the filling will have ample opportunity to soften the cookies.

Adjustments: Some recipes call for an all sour cream filling sweetened with condensed milk. Some recipes call for sour cream be mixed with whipping cream. To me, the idea of sweetening a honey cake with condensed milk doesn’t sit well, so honey it is. As for the cream, I favor whipped cream as a topping and, wherever possible (most places, it turns out), Greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream or heavier cream products. 0% Greek yogurt has a clean, tangy flavor and is pure protein. Also, the condensed milk option gets messy quickly owing to the extra liquidity the condensed milk introduces. You are free to play with the filling.

Key Lime Pie

what you need

how to make it

Medovik - Russian Honey Cake

what you need

how to make it