Frank’s Big Mistake Key Lime Cheesecake

When life gives you limes, make key lime cheesecake.

1. In large mixing bowl beat eggs and yolk with wire whisk until combined.

2. Gradually add milk to beaten eggs, beating until combined. Add all other ingredients. Pour into crust.

3. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for (unknown number of minutes) or until almost set in middle.

Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Refrigerate at least four hours.

Dumb me! I didn’t realize I’d made a big mistake until I’d poured the pie mixture into the crust — and discovered there was too much of the mixture for all of it to fit in. Oh, no! The actual recipe — “Key Lime Pie” — called for the pie to be baked for 20 minutes and for the whipping cream to be whipped separately with the sugar and vanilla and “piped around edge of pie” after it had cooled. The whipping cream was meant for final decor rather than as a main ingredient.

Panic. If this failed, I’d have no dessert for my dinner guests that evening. But of course I couldn’t take the whipping cream out of the mixture.

So I poured the leftover mixture into a little Pyrex cup, put the baking sheet with both the pie and the “extra” cup in the 350-degree oven, and set the timer for 20 minutes.

I left the oven light on and checked progress almost constantly.

After about 15 minutes, the mixture in the cup seemed to be done — it looked nicely set, was evenly browned across its top, and passed the clean-knife-blade test. So I took it out and let it cool just enough to give it a try.

Tasted great, but I noticed there was still a thin layer of lime juice at the bottom of the cup.

The pie, however, was nowhere near done — only around its outer edge was the mixture starting to set, with the top slightly browned and slightly puffed up. So I just left it in the oven. Checked it often. The brown (and the slight poofing up that indicated the mixture was “setting”) slowly worked its way inward toward the center of the pie. I lost track of time. I let the pie bake and bake and took it out only when the top was browned and set all the way across. That is, I took it out of the oven only when I feared that if I left it in even for another minute the brown would turn black and the pie would definitely be ruined.

I let the pie cool, then refrigerated it.

That evening, before I presented the pie at the table, I warned everyone that I’d made the big mistake. One of my guests encouragingly said, “Don’t worry. Whipped cream never hurt anything!”

Well, I cut and served. We all tasted.

Spectacularly good! Raves! Cheers! Backslapping! Happy dances!

(The Graham cracker crust had apparently absorbed any residual lime juice.)

Next time I make this dessert, I’ll record the baking time. And there will be a next time. By popular demand.

Frank Zoretich, a Seattle writer and editor, enjoys springing new dishes on unsuspecting dinner guests.