Recipe #28 - Key Lime Tarts

There are several recipes in this cookbook that I have always wanted to try, but just have never gotten around to them.  Key Lime Tarts is one of those recipes.  However, I had a meeting and not too long before the meeting I decided that I wanted to make a treat for it.  So I flipped through the desserts section to look for something that was tagged "quick and easy".  This recipe fit the bill.

I did have to make trip to the store for limes and the mini graham cracker crusts though, but it was okay because I had enough time.  Well, I got to the store only to find that they don't carry the mini crusts.  I didn't have time to go to another store so I decided to follow the alternative version of this recipe and make a Key Lime Pie.  Same recipe, same ingredients, bigger crust.

I knew that I didn't have a ton of time to make it and have it cool before the meeting, so I hustled to the check out with the pie crust in hand.  Just as got in line, I got a call from my daughter telling me that she was pretty sure my youngest had pink eye.  Fantastic.

When I got home, I had a cute little girl with 2 giant puffy eyes and the whites of her eyes were all red.  After a quick call to the doctor, I made an appointment for her and had just enough time to make a pie.  Good thing this baby is fast!

You can find the recipe on page 228 or online here.

The first step is to combine egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice.

Step two is to pour the mixture into the crust.

Step three?  Into the the oven it goes!  Yes, that fast and easy.

So...in my rush, I neglected to add the green food coloring.  In my defense, the food coloring is listed in the ingredients section but not as part of the instructions.  It is considered "optional" so it wasn't listed as an ingredient to add.  And well... I didn't add it.  I figured that it didn't effect the taste so I didn't try to fix it after I realized what I had done.  (Didn't realize it until it was in the oven for a minute or two.)

Once it comes out of the oven, you let it cool and then chill in the fridge.

And then you run to the doctor to find out that your five year old has allergies, not pink eye.  But that part isn't in the cookbook.

I served this with a dollop of the Sweetened Whipped Cream, also found in the cookbook.  (Reviewed here.)

Yes, I am aware that this picture is on the uglier side of life.  I cut the pie during the meeting and in the name of not looking too wacky taking pictures of my food, I only snapped one.  Perhaps I should have taken more...

I found it to be a very simple, light pie.  It wasn't very filling.  Good thing?  Bad thing?  Not sure.  And it made a delicious breakfast the next morning.  Totally counts as a fruit, a protein, and a dairy.  Right?