Lazy Girl Mini Key Lime Pies

The Hubs loves key lime pies and I make a really mean one (if I do say so myself), but my "go-to" recipe involves baking.  And right now it's way too hot outside to even think about turning on the oven.  Solution: the Lazy Girl mini key lime pies. While they don't pack quite the intense key lime punch that a regular pie does, they're a pretty darned good summer substitute.

There's something just perfect about citrus flavors in the summertime. I found the recipe via foodgawker the other day and couldn't get it out of my mind. The only cooking is on the stove top to make the lime curd (8 minutes tops), but if you were really feeling lazy you could just substitute a jarred version.  Also, it looked as if she made her own tart shells, but since my whole goal was to avoid using the oven I made a Lazy Girl substitution and just used Keebler mini graham cracker crusts (6/pkg). 

Basically all you do is fold lime curd into the some sweetened whipped cream, fill the crusts, garnish and let them chill a few hours.  Could it be any easier?!?!  I was really pleased with how the little pies turned out.  I had exactly the amount of filling for my 6 shells, making this recipe perfect for a dinner party.  They are super cute and make for a nice, refreshing dessert. 

The only change I'll make next time is to increase the ratio of lime curd to whipping cream.  She has it at 1:1 and I'm thinking 1.5:1  would provide a more key lime-y punch.  I also think this would be great if you swapped lemon curd for the lime curd and garnished it with fresh berries.