Mini Toasted-Coconut Lime Custard Tart (TWD)

Rum, coconut custard, and fluffy whipped cream. All that was missing was the lime and private cove from a Maxfield Parrish painting. The lime was easy to incorporate. The weather here is wet, slushy, and muddy so the sea side sunset wish would have required a lot more rum than I was willing to ingest. If free-spiritedness had a flavour, it would be this tart. It was just bordering on the overly-sweet end of the spectrum so I was glad for the lime zest. But other than that, it would be difficult to be in a bad mood while you're eating this sunny little dessert.

This weeks recipe was chosen by Beryl of Cinemon Girl. Now you too can have Neil Young stuck in your head all day. :)

This recipe actually worked a small miracle. Normally I don't care too much for custards, mainly because mine end up looking like someone scrambled eggs blindfolded after taking whiskey shots. I always end up with a clumpy, wet mess of sugary eggs, which I'm sure out of sheer disgust, even a sieve refuses to strain. I'm fairly certain that because this one was Dorie's recipe, the custard turned out beautifully. It had a smooth, thick creamy consistency and a mild crunchy texture from the toasted coconut. No lumpy pseudo scrambled eggs.

The sweet tart crust is one of my favourite recipes from Dorie's book. I love when some chooses a tart! The crust is good enough to eat on it's own, like a giant sugar cookie. And it has been used often enough for Tuesdays with Dorie that I have finally mastered the food processor's pulse button. The first time I made the sweet tart crust, I had a lead finger and mixed the dough so much that it lost the delicate flakiness which makes it fantastic. Just remember that it should look more crumbly than smooth. Once the crust is finished, the rest is easy. The custard comes together quickly and the whipped cream literally takes a minute or two to transform into a rummy vanilla cloud.

Thank you Beryl for hosting this weeks recipe. She will have the full recipe for the custard filling and whipped cream on her blog. She does an excellent job at taking close-up photos of her food so be prepared to leave hungry. The recipe below is a halved version along with the sweet tart dough crust.

Please be sure it visit the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers while you are surfing!

Toasted-Coconut Lime Custard Tart

Makes one 5 1/2-inch tart

Sweet tart dough crust ingredients:
1/2 cup +1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1/4 cup of confectioners sugar
small pinch of salt
5 Tablespoons of butter, frozen and cut into tiny pieces
about 1/2 of an egg yolk

Method:
Lightly butter a 5 1/2-6 inch tart pan. *I used a quiche dish*. Set it aside.

To make the dough: Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely - you'll have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pea-size pieces and that's just fine. Stir the egg, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses - about 10 seconds each - until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change - heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface.
Very lightly and sparingly - make that very, very lightly and sparingly - knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. Press the dough into the prepared pan but don't be too heavy-handed. You want the crust to retain the crumbly appearance.

Place the crust into the freezer and chill it for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil. Remove the frozen crust and press the foil (butter side down) tightly against the crust. Place the pan onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. Press down any lumps with the back of a spoon. Continue baking uncovered for about 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. If you buttered the pan/quiche dish well enough, the crust should come out easily. You may need to loosen the edges gently with a knife if your pan does not have a removable bottom.

Custard ingredients:
1 cups whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
1/6 of a cup of cornstarch (it's easier to just fill a 1/3 cup half-way)
pinch of salt
pinch or coriander
1/2 Tablespoon of lime zest
1 tbsp rum
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon of cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut, toasted

1 tart shell, baked and cooled

Whipped cream ingredients:
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
1-1 1/2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp rum
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Bring milk to a boil. In a large saucepan, whisk together sugar, yolks, cornstarch, salt and coriander until well blended. Whisk in 1/4 cup of hot milk to temper the yolks, then whisk in the rest of the milk. Continue whisking over medium heat and bring to a boil. Whisk an additional 1 or 2 minutes then remove from heat. Whisk in the lime zest, rum and vanilla and let sit for 5 minutes. Then whisk in the butter, stirring until custard is smooth. Stir in the toasted coconut. Transfer to a container, cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.
To make the topping, use a stand mixture with whisk attachment or a hand mixer to whip the cream to medium peaks. Add the powdered sugar and beat to firm peaks. Whip in rum and vanilla.
To assemble the tart, whisk the custard vigorously to loosen it then scrape into the crust. Spoon the whipped cream over the tart and spread evenly to the edge of the custard. Sprinkle with toasted coconut.

* printer friendly Recipe *