Margarita Pie

Ellen, I wish I had pulled out this recipe before your Mexican-themed party. I made this for my parents-in-law Sunday, and they really liked it. I don't know where we got it from on line, but it's good and easy.



1 1/2 cups finely crushed thin pretzel sticks
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
zest of one lime
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated)
2 Tb gold tequila
2 Tb Triple Sec
1 1/2 cups whipped heavy cream, divided use
2 drops green food coloring (optional)
12 mini pretzel sticks for garnish
4 very thin lime slices cut in half for garnish

Combine the crushed pretzels, sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Press mixture into a buttered 9 inch pie dish. Chill for one hour.

In a clean bowl, combine lime zest, lime juice, condensed milk, tequila and Triple Sec. Fold in one cup of the whipped cream and food coloring. Pour into cold pie crust and freeze for 4 hours.

Decorate with remaining 1/2 cup whipped cream, pretzels and lime slices.

Notes:

I cut back a bit on the sugar in the crust. And yes, you need all that butter to hold the crumbs together. There is a lot of crust to filling, so you can cut back on the crumbs/sugar even more if you like.

You don't really need the food coloring. Mine was all dried up anyway. I use more lime zest and sprinkle some on top to get color.

I took a shortcut and used about a tub and half of store-bought lite whipped topping. This pie really doesn't need to be *that* rich. I used more than a cup in the filling to bring it up to the top of the crust, and more than a 1/2 cup for the decoration on top. Just slapped some in a pastry bag with a big star tip. Good for impressing mother-in-law, but I've just dolloped it on top other times I've made it.

This can be doubled and put in a 9X13 pan and taken to a pot-luck.