Prepare the crust:

   Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

   In a sauce pan, melt the 2 1/2 sticks of butter.

   Place the ginger snap cookies into a robo coup (food processer), and grind 

   into fine crumbs.

   In a mixing bowl, thourghly mix together the ginger snap crumbs with the melted 

   butter. I use a "Pastry Blender", (which is a kitchen hand tool, often with a wooden          handle, that has about a half dozen U-shape wires attached), to blend the melted            butter evenly into the crumbs.

   Evenly distribute equal portions of the crumb-crust mixture into each of three 10

   inch pie plates. For an authentic "Sweet Afton's Key Lime Pie", use three, ten inch,

   non-stick, flutted, loose bottom, French Tart pans with one inch high sides.

   Spread the ginger crumb mixture evenly accross the bottom of each pan, carefully 

   sculpturing the sides as you go. The sides should be a little over 1/8 inch thick. I use

   a rounded top biscuit cutter turned upside down to smooth and level the crust, and 

   to firmly form the transition of the crust bottom to the sidewall.

   Bake each crust for exactly ten minutes, in 350 degree oven.

   Remove pans with baked crust to a wire rack and allow to fully cool.

 

    For The Key Lime Filling:

    In a mixing bowl, add the yolks only, of nine eggs, reserve the white of the ninth egg,

    and discard the whites of the other eight. Add the sweetened condensed milk from 

    three of the cans. Blend well with the eggs using an electric mixer. Next blend in,    

    slowly, with the electric mixer, 1 1/2 cup of the Key Lime juice.

    Once the egg yolk, sweetened condensed milk, and Key Lime juice mixture is 

    thoroughly blended together, laddle eqal amounts into each of the three fully cooled

    ginger snap crusts which are remaining in the pie/tart pans.

    Evenly spread the filling over the crust with a rubber spatula, taking care not to                 crumble the sides of the crust.

    Next add the yolks of the three remaining eggs to the mixing bowl, reserving the 

    whites, and adding the whites to the one which was reserved from the ninth egg.

    Add the cotents from the remaining can of sweetened condensed milk, to the last 

    three egg yolks and blend together well with the electric mixer as before. Now blend 

    in the remaing Key Lime juice from the 16 ounce bottle, and the tablespoon of      

    lemon juice, or the juice from 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon. Mix together well, as  

    before. In a seperate mixing bowl, add the four reserved egg whites, and beat 

    together on high speed, with the electric mixer, until stiff peaks are formed. Add the 3       tablespoons of sugar, and beat into the stiff peaked egg whites.

    Now add the zest from the Persian lime, and blend into the stiff peaked egg whites.         ( Zest is the grated peel of the lime).

    Now gently, and thoroughly fold (by hand using the rubber spatula), the stiffed

    peaked egg whites with the sugar and lime zest, into the other mixing bowl  

    containing the mixture you have made from the final three eggs, sweetened

    condensed milk, and Key Lime juice. Take care not to over stir and blend, because you           want this part of thefilling to be as fluffy as possible.

    Now equally distribute the fluffy filling across the top of the filling already in the 

    three pie shells. Bake the now completely filled pies, at 350 degrees for 17 minutes.

    Remove the baked pies to a baking rack to cool, taking care not to push up on the 

    bottom of the loose bottom tart pans, if used. After the pies have cooled for an hour,

    they can be lifted out of the flutted tart pan ring by pushing up on the loose bottom

    of the pan. Carefull slide the pie off the loose pan bottom onto an 11 inch carboard 

    round. I demonstrate how this is done in the video. Each pie will yield 8 normal size 

    slices. Top the slices with extra creamy whipped cream, and garnish with a thin slice

    of lime. Enjoy the Best Key Lime Pie Ever!