Key Lime Tarts

Happy Mother's Day!!! Today at church, the speaker held up a sign that said MOM. Then she flipped it upside down to have it say WOW. She talked about all the women in her life that make her go, "WOW!" It made me think of the women in my life. My own mother, who looking back, I realize how special she was. Now I know what a sacrifice it is to make time for your little ones. She was so good at this. Seriously, I remember whole days of her playing board games with us. And I remember her reading to us nightly. I can list the novels we read aloud to this day. Time...the best thing she could ever have given me.

Then, there are my friends, the women around me. All of them truly trying every day to be the perfect wife, mother, daughter of God. WOW!

My sistas...loyal to a fault. One is a mother. ALWAYS talking about her children and how she can do better. One is a teacher who loves her students like they are hers. One is single who is becoming a woman who can love deeper than most.

At my tea party (my last two posts) , I had art of mothers and quotes about mothers in frames throughout the rooms... One said, "Live a joyful life with your children. Someday you will treasure these moments like precious gems gleaming with the luster of years well spent." I am in it NOW. It is great to have Mother's Day to remember how special and important my little job with my boys is.

My boys sure did love these tarts. They squirted whipped cream on them and devoured them. My tarts didn't turn out looking like the picture of perfection...spray your tart pans a little more than I did...but MAN...they were yummy!!

Key Lime Tarts
Source: Martha Stewart

Throw the following ingredients into your cart...

9 to 10 graham crackers (crushed) (put them in a ziplock bag and have your kiddos go to town on it)

2 Tab. plus 1/2 cup sugar
4 Tab. butter, melted
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup fresh lime juice
4 large egg yolks
Pinch salt

Put your apron on and get busy...

Preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Crush your graham crackers into fine crumbs. You could use a food processor. Add butter and 2 Tab. sugar and combine. Press into bottom and sides of tart pans. Mine made about 25 small tarts. Spray pans well. I lightly sprayed mine and my tarts still had a hard time sliding out. Next time...I will spray them heavily. Bake a 9 inch crust for about 10 minutes or my little ones baked for about 5 minutes. (until crust is fragrant) Remove from oven to add inside.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine milk, lime juice, egg yolks, remaining 1/2 cup sugar and salt. Whisk until smooth. Pour mixture into each crust leaving 1/8 inch at the top. Return to oven and bake until filling is set. A 9 inch crust for about 20 minutes, my little ones took about 15 minutes.

Cool completely. Serve chilled.

A Wedding and Lemon Tarts

Remember right after Christmas I told you I was helping a friend with the desserts at her wedding? Well, it ended up beautiful, there was just the right amount of food, and I loved doing it! I learned that sugar cookies iced with royal icing freeze really well and I found this lemon tart recipe that I LO-OVE (that is love pronounced with two syllables! ) I learned how long it takes me to bake decorate, etc. 150 sugar cookies. (about a day and a half) I learned that my boys can really be occupied in front of the t.v. for strangely long amounts of time I can play games with my boys and still get everything done. :) Here is the DELICIOUS lemon tart recipe. Buy yourself some of these super cute tart pans. They are so cheap at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Tarts are a great treat for more formal occasions like a fairy tea party (oh...or weddings). And I will be sharing tart recipes with you in the next few months. I am dying to break these little pans out again!

Lemon Tart Recipe

Source: Joy of Baking

Put in your shopping cart the following ingredients:

Crust:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter cut into pieces

Filling:

5 ounces cream cheese, room temp.

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 large eggs

1 Tab. lemon zest

Topping:

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 Tab. powdered sugar

Put on your apron and get busy baking...

Grease with butter (I used cooking spray) an 8 or 9 inch tart pan. (Or about 20 or so small pans like mine pictured)

For the crust:

Mix all ingredients in a food processor or your kitchen-aid/mixer til it forms one big clump. Press dough into and up sides of tart pans. Keep thin. Pierce bottom of each pan with a fork a few times to keep bottoms from rising too much. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cover and place the pans in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill. When pastry is chilled, place the tart pan/pans on a cookie sheet and bake until golden, about 13-15 minutes. (For small pans bake for 6-8 minutes.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

Reduce oven temperature at this time to 350 degrees or they will burn!

For the filling:

Mix all ingredients in your mixture til there are no lumps and mixture is perfectly smooth. Pour filling into pan/pans and bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until filling is set. (For small pans bake about 10 minutes.) Cool on wire rack. I found it easiest to remove the little tarts from their pans while they were still warm to the touch.

Topping: (I didn't top my tarts)

Put mixing bowl and whisk in freezer for 15 minutes. Beat whipping cream and powdered sugar til stiff peaks form. Spread or pipe on the top of tart/tarts.

Refrigerate until you serve.