Coconut Lime Custard Tartlets

Tart, with a lovely lime&coconut flavor and a flaky, buttery pie crust, these tartlets are so easy to make yet so fancy. Perfect for Easter, right? Who needs a big slice of custard pie when they can have itty-bitty bites of cuteness? 

I`ll tell you what...I`m going to make them again! And again. And again. Probably until I`ll get sick and tired of them, but that`s quite impossible because you can play with the ingredients an make your own version, which, if you do, please let me know so I can try `em too. 

So chances are you don`t find limes at your grocery store or whatever, but who cares? You can substitute them with any kind of fruit. Lemon, grapefruit, orange, sweetie...phew, there are lots of choices. I`m thinking about a combination of kiwi and banana. 

I chose lime and coconut because well, they pare beautifully together and I had a lot of limes hanging around in my fridge. 

Please excuse me if I seem a bit, I don`t know...is distracted the right word? I`m thinking about hippocampus (the part of your brain which looks like a seahorse and is responsible for storing, memorizing and organising information). My dad is going to fetch me the brain of a pig and well, I really want to see that. And a lot of other things. The brain is a mystery to us.

Whatever, it`s almost the middle of the night and I can`t concentrate on writing any more, but I`m still going to hang around on the web until I fall asleep on the keyboard. 

I don`t know how to give you the measures for this recipe. I know I`m horrible. I beg you for forgiveness. The thing is that I made an Apple Pie the previous week and there still remained 100 gr. or so of pie crust. It was flaky, buttery. Would have been a shame to throw it away, right? Well, I popped it into the freezer and used it for this recipe.

Originally, I wanted to make Mini Cherry Pie Bites but I didn`t feel like another ordinary pie recipe would be suiting for spring.

These Tartlets are fresh, tender and (with a bit of browned bottom but well...sometimes you can`t trust your oven) taste like cheesecake. They are as creamy, maybe with a bit more tartness but...wow! I swallowed 4 of them while shooting.

Here`s a peek inside:

Oh, and one more thing: the most difficult part is stretching the dough and arranging it in the mini muffin moulds. Apart from that, you just have to toss, mix and bake. That is pretty much all. 

And remember it`s ok if your don`t look perfect, like those you buy at the shop/baker. They are homemade, you worked for them and therefore, the most important thing is that you put love in every baked good you do. That way, everything will be a success.

Easter is coming (as I previously mentioned) and I suggest you try to be good to all and offer them a small gift to show you care about them. May you have the most beautiful holiday.

Ingredients:

100 gr. already made, unbaked, pie crust (homemade or bought, I already have a recipe, so check it out: Apple Pie )

1 large egg

3 Tablespoons plain yogurt (coconut or lime yogurt would be nice too)

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoon plain all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

10 gr. shredded coconut

juice of 1 lime

zest of 1 lime

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F/180 C. Grease 13 mini muffin cups. Set aside.

2.Lightly flour your rolling pin and work surface. Stretch the dough as you would do for regular pie. Take a ruffled or round cookie cutter and cut the dough. Take each piece and arrange it in the muffin cup, making sure that the dough touches the bottom. Continue like this with all the dough. Pop it in the fridge while you make the filling.

3.In a bowl, beat the egg well. Add the yogurt, sugar, vanilla extract, coconut, zest and juice of the lime and end with the flour. Mix everything thoroughly, and if you really want people to know you`ve put lime in there, add a dash of green food coloring. This step is optional and I didn`t do it. Whatever, they will still be delicious.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for somewhere around 25 minutes or until the top looks set and you might find a few cracks. Take them out of the oven and let cool completely in your pan. 

Take out and serve. :D