Key Lime Pie Tarts

"Taquitos, truffles, tarts, and more." After tonight, the description of my blog will actually be official! I already have the taquito recipe and the truffle recipes posted, and now the tart recipe.

I have been wanting to make these tarts for a long time now, but something kept holding me back. I would go to make them, and I would have every ingredient except for one. I'd drive to the corner store, and they wouldn't carry the one ingredient I needed, so I had to wait until I made it out to the grocery store.  I finally had all of the ingredients to make the tarts and then we got hit with an atrocious heat wave that lasted for ELEVEN days. For eleven days I did not turn on my oven or stovetop. I did go through baking withdrawal (or was it sugar withdrawal)???

Today was the perfect day for making the tarts. I came across this recipe a few years ago in the form of a pie, and I've made the pie several times. It's delicious. I have a friend who lived in Miami for several years who considers herself a "key lime pie snob," and she declared that the pie was one of the best that she has ever had. I especially love the topping used in this key lime pie recipe. It is not the typical super sweet whipped cream - it is a mixture of sour cream, powdered sugar, and lime zest. It is just slightly sweet, totally smooth, and it is the perfect contrast to the tartness of the filling and the sweetness of the crust. Yum.

Although I love the pie, it always was a little tough to cut and it made quite the mess. Tarts were the perfect solution!

I made 5 tarts today. Greg told me I couldn't eat any of them or give any of them away because he wants to have them all to himself. Hmm, good luck with that Greg!

Recipe for Key Lime Pie Tarts

INGREDIENTS:
For the crust:

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
1 egg
1/2 cup of key lime juice or regular lime juice
1 can of sweetened condensed milk

For the topping:
1 cup of sour cream
2 Tbsp. of powdered sugar
1 tsp. of lime zest, plus more for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:
For the crust:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
With a spoon, gently mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a large mixing bowl. Place five 4.75-inch tart pans onto a baking sheet. Use your hands to press the crumb mixture firmly onto the bottoms and sides of the pans. Place the baking sheet with the tart pans on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. After baking, remove from oven and cool pans to room temperature. Turn off oven.
For the filling:
In a smallish mixing bowl, beat together the egg, lime juice, and condensed milk until ingredients are very well incorporated. Place lime mixture in fridge until tart pans are cool enough to fill. Once tart pans are ready, remove lime mixture from fridge. Using a ladle, put one scoop of lime mixture into each tart pan. Add more lime mixture to each pan if there is any leftover.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place baking sheet with tart pans back in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the lime mixture does not jiggle when pans are gently shook. Immediately place the baking sheet with the tart pans in the fridge, and cool for at least 2 hours.
For the topping:
Once tarts have cooled for at least 2 hours, make the topping. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the sour cream, powdered sugar, and lime zest. Adjust based on your taste (either adding more sugar or zest or sour cream). Drop 2 - 3 tablespoons of topping onto the top of each tart, and spread evenly. Add extra lime zest on top, if desired. Place tarts back in fridge for a few more minutes to allow the topping to set.

Last summer I visited the Oregon Coast to hang out with my good friend, Krista. 

We hosted a dessert party & made mini key lime tarts! So cute.

Recipe adapted from: The Food Network, Courtesy of Emeril Lagasse