Coconut Crusted Lime Tartlettes

This is my submission for the lovely Rachel Rappaport's 5th Blogoversary contest for her fabulous blog Coconut & Lime. Coconut & Lime was one of the first food blog I happened upon and part of the reason I decided to start my own. I love that her recipes are all original and I think she makes great stuff. There are 2 ways to enter this contest, (which is offering some great prizes, either of which I'd be happy to win) (1) make one of Rachel's multitude of recipes posted over the last 5 years or (2) create something with her signature ingredients Coconut & Lime. Even though I have used her recipes for inspiration in the past, I really want to work more at creating my own recipes and decided to go with the latter option. I had a few of ideas for recipes using these ingredients and really wanted to make something that combined sweet and savory, but alas I just didn't have the time to pull of my ideal dish, maybe next year. That being said this is a dessert I am very proud of and something I never would have come up with without this contest.


Coconut Crusted Lime Tartlettes
makes 4 4" tarts

CRUST
2 cups of sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg whites

LIME CURD
3/4 cup lime juice
2 tsps lime zest - packed
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a a medium bowl mix together coconut, salt and egg whites until well combined.
2. Spray tartlette pans with cooking spray. Press 1/4 of coconut mixture into each pan, along the bottom and up the sides.
3. Place tartlette pans on a cooking sheet and bake in preheat oven for 20-30 minutes until set and coconut begins to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 hours. While still slightly warm remove outer shell of tart pans and let cool completely. Crust keeps well in a refrigerator overnight.
4. In a medium saucepan place butter, lime juice, lime zest and 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Bring to a boil. In a bowl whisk together egg yolks and remaining sugar.
5. Temper the egg yolks, by adding a Tbsp of the boiling mixture at a time and whisking until the yolk have been slowly brought up to temperature.
6. Add egg mixture to saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking constantly until it begins to thicken. Remove from heat pour into a nonreactive bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap on to the surface of the curd. Let chill in the refrigerator overnight.
7. Assemble tarts by placing 1/4 of the lime curd into each tart shell. Even out with an offset spatula, let chill for 1 hour before serving.


While this recipe sounds complicated with alot of steps, they are actually all very easy. The hardest part is waiting for things to cool and set up, for me that is since I have no patience. The crust tastes like a macaroon, which I really like and the lime curd has just the right amount of tartness to complement the sweet crust. I am of course biased because I love fruit curd of any kind. Basically this dessert combines two things I love into one nice summer treat. I made four tartlettes, kept 2 for the boy and I and brought the other 2 into the office. They got all kinds of ooos and ahhhs which was good for my ego, but I also love having people besides the boy try these concoctions just so I know he's not just being nice when he says he likes something. I am also really proud of the photos for this post, it was the first time I had too many good pictures and I really feel like my food photography is turning a corner. All in all this has been my most fun recipe contest to date. I hope it shows in the results. Wish me luck!