Category Archives: Key Lime Tarts

Cleaning Up After Yesterday

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I had some key lime mousse left over from yesterday and didn’t want to waste it, so I made more key lime tartlets this morning. I did NOT have any tart shells left over so I decided to experiment with meringue “tart shells.” I needed to do that anyway as I am making them for Passover in April. I made some fresh blueberry syrup to add some color. I also need to “tart up” these tarts and the meringue is very sweet.

I also didn’t have room on my serving trays for all the eclairs I made so I finished them this morning.

The chocolate was a little thick but I managed to coat the eclairs with a nice, thick layer of chocolate. It’s a shame.

Time to update the Next Up in DeDe’s Bakery!

Key Lime Mousse Meringue Tartlets

INGREDIENTS

MERINGUE
• 80g (or 0.4 cup or 6.5 Tbl) granulated sugar
• 30ml (or 1/8 cup) water
• 60g (or ¼ cup) egg whites (about 2 large egg whites)
• ¼ tsp cream of tartar
MOUSSE
• 1 ½ c. heavy cream
• ¼ c. powdered sugar
• 1 c. sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 c. freshly squeezed key lime juice
• Juice of one lime
• Zest of the same lime
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• Key lime zest , for garnish

METHOD
ITALIAN MERINGUE

  1. Whisk the egg whites into a light and fluffy foam, using a stand mixer.
  2. Add the cream of tartar and continue whipping until you’ve got a glossy stable foam. It should stay in place if you turn the bowl upside down. Set aside.
  3. Add the granulated sugar and water to a pan and bring to a boil. Once all the sugar has dissolved, refrain from stirring. Continue boiling at moderate/high heat while continuously until the solution has reached 240°F, then remove from the heat.
  4. While SLOWLY beating the egg whites, gently pour the hot sugar solution into the whipped egg whites.
  5. Once all the sugar syrup is in, turn up the speed to high and continue whisking until the foam is lukewarm. This may take 15 minutes.

MOUSSE

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat cream and powdered sugar into stiff peaks.
  2. Zest the lime, then squeeze and collect the juice.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, key lime juice, lime juice, lime zest and vanilla. Add to bowl of whipped cream. Gently fold in until just combined.
  4. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

TARTLETS

  1. Pipe meringue into disks about ¼ “ thick and 3” diameter. Bake at 200F for 45 minutes, until they are dry to the touch.
  2. Remove from oven and let cool, then pipe kisses of meringue around the edges of the disks. Each kiss should be ¼” – ½” high. Bake at 200F for 45 – 60 minutes, not letting the tips of the kisses brown. Turn the oven off and leave the meringue in the oven to cool before removing.
  3. When cool, pipe the mousse into the well of each tart shell.
  4. Pipe (or place, see NOTE) a small kiss on each tart. NOTE: After making these tartlets I realized making individual small ( ¼” – ½”) diameter kisses could be placed on the piped mousse. Pipe them at the same time, with the same piping tip as the edges of the tartlets. Then, just place them on the piped mousse.)
  5. Spoon a small amount of berry juice (I used blueberry juice, but any tart juice would work.)
  6. Sprinkle some lime zest on top of the tart.
  7. Serve and enjoy.

Dede’s Bakery and Confectionery- Estd 2016

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Our synagogue’s fundraiser is tonight and the administrator asked me to provide some of the deserts and something for the auction. To identify my goods I asked Dan to create a logo for me. For those who do not know, DeDe is my granddaughters name for me because they couldn’t pronounce Zayde (Yiddish for grandfather) when they were younger and it just stuck.

Over the last week or so I made and froze choux pastry for the eclairs and shells for the tarts. I made all the fillings yesterday and assembled everything this morning except the pain au chocolat which I made in its entirety this morning. (They don’t take very long.)

Raspberry Brownies
Key lime Tartlets
Pain au Chocolat
Eclairs
Chocolate Coated Caramels

I made the chocolate covered caramels a few days ago, wrapped them and set them aside, (after sampling several.)

Key Lime Tartlets Re-revisited

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I am making key lime tartlets for a Gala/fundraiser in a week and wanted to practice. It’s a good thing I did. The meringue never whipped to peaks. I binned the first attempt and made some minor changes to the second, which resulted in perfect, smooth, silky Italian meringue.

I used a kitchen blowtorch to brown the tops. The lime zest incorporated in the filling and lightly dusted on the top added the tartness to balance the meringue.

Key Lime Tartlets

Gluten Free suggestions at the end

INGREDIENTS
SHELL
• 100 g cold butter cut into small cubes
• 200 g all-purpose flour
• 60 g icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 eggs – 1 for the dough and the other 1 reserved for an egg wash (try egg white only for Almond flour.)

FILLING
• zest (grated rind) of 1 lime
• 4 large egg yolks
• 14-ounce can (397g) sweetened condensed milk, (1 1/4 cups)
• 3/4 cup (170g) Key lime juice or lime juice
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon lime oil, optional
METHOD
SHELL

  1. Mix butter with sugar until well incorporated 3-5 min
  2. Add salt then vanilla
  3. Add egg and mix 3-5 min – for almond flour: suggest using only the egg white to reduce the moisture in the dough
  4. Stir in flour. Mix by hand until incorporated and forms a thick smooth(ish) sticky dough
  5. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 30 min
  6. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
  7. Butter tartlet pans, or use non-stick pans
    For AP Flour
    a. Roll dough on floured surface
    b. Cut into circles 1” larger diameter than the mold
    c. Press into molds filling all parts of the mold
    For Almond Flour
    a. Roll dough between parchment paper to about ⅛” thick
    b. Freeze rolled dough still between parchment paper until firm: 20 – 30 minutes
    c. Cut frozen dough to rounds about 1” larger diameter than the mold. Cut all the rounds at once while still frozen. I used an offset spatula to remove the circles from the parchment paper. Keep the spatula clean.
    d. Lay tart dough circles over molds. This allows the dough to thaw slightly and be pressed into the molds and fill all crevices.
  8. Pinch off excess with wet fingers. (Dough is sticky)
  9. Prick holes in bottom and sides of formed dough
  10. Fill tarts with pastry weights (I put beans in mini cupcake papers
  11. Paint edges of the tartlet with the egg wash.
  12. Bake in preheated oven 350 deg F (175 C) for 6-8 min
  13. Remove pastry weights and bake an additional 4-6 minutes to dry the bottoms. Bake until the edges are begin to turn light brown
  14. Immediately remove from pans and cool on a wire rack

FILLING

  1. Whisk the lime zest and egg yolks at high speed of an electric mixer for about 4 minutes. The mixture will lighten in color and thicken somewhat, appearing similar to Hollandaise sauce.
  2. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk, mixing until smooth. Beat at high speed for 3 minutes; the filling will become slightly thicker and gain a bit of volume.
  3. Add the lime juice, stirring just to combine. The mixture will thicken again. Add lime oil to taste.
  4. PIPE the filling into the crust and return the tart (on the baking sheet) to the oven. Bake the tart for 12 to 18 minutes, until it appears set around the edges though still a bit wobbly in the center. The center should read about 145°F on a digital thermometer.
  5. Remove the tart from the oven and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.
  6. Once chilled, serve the key lime pies cold with whipped cream, or merengue and a lime slice or zest, if desired.
  7. Store leftover pies in the refrigerator (covered) for up to 1 week. If they last that long!

Notes
Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Up to 1 day in advance, you can prepare the crust ingredients and the filling ingredients separately. Store each covered tightly in the refrigerator until ready to assemble and bake. You can bake the key lime pies and store in the refrigerator for 1 day before serving. Key lime pies freeze well, up to 2–3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Gluten Free:
Substitute Almond flour for AP flour or 1:1 Almond and coconut flours
Add 1 Tbl psyllium husk per cup of almond flour.

ITALIAN MERINGUE

INGREDIENTS
• 80g (or 0.4 cup or 6.5 Tbl) granulated sugar
• 30ml (or 1/8 cup) water
• 60g (or ¼ cup) egg whites (about 2 large egg whites)
• 20 g icing sugar

METHOD

  1. Whisk the egg whites into a light and fluffy foam, using an electric (stand) mixer.
  2. Add the icing sugar and continue whipping until you’ve got a glossy stable foam. It should stay in place if you turn the bowl upside down. Set aside.
  3. Add the granulated sugar and water to a pan and bring to a boil. Once all the sugar has dissolved, refrain from stirring. Continue boiling at moderate/high heat while continuously keeping an eye on the temperature.
  4. Once the solution has reached 121°C (250°F), take it from the heat immediately*.
  5. While SLOWLY beating the egg whites, gently pour the hot sugar solution into the whipped egg whites (this is where the stand mixer comes in handy!).
  6. Once all the sugar syrup is in, turn up the speed to high and continue whisking until the foam is lukewarm.
  7. Use the meringue immediately to top whatever it is you want to cover.

NOTES
Italian meringue can be made two days in advance and stored in the fridge until needed (covered with plastic wrap). Store in a piping bag, sealing the tip,