Slime Curd Tart

A thing of beauty

The other day, I was perusing the "As Is" section (a little Ikea humor for you) at my local Stop and Shop and found a package of 6 limes for $.50. That's right... $.50. Of course I bought them. One of them was really bad and I had to throw it out as soon as I got home, but still... 10 cents for a lime...? Awesome. Anyways, they were on their way out so I had to do something with them. That night I dreamed of a tart with a buttery shortbread crust, cream cheese, tart lime curd and whipped cream. When I woke up, I did some research and combined 3 different recipes to make the delectable dessert I had dreamed of. I also had some strawberries that needed to be used (because they were bogo and looked delicious... how could i not buy them?), so I sliced those and put them on top too.

"...And then he threw my beautiful limes in the snow!" ( Name that movie)

So, when I was making the lime curd, it was really yellow (because the limes were at the end of their lives so the zest wasn't vibrant and green) so I thought I'd put some color in. Unfortunately, I only had royal blue food coloring but I thought blue and yellow make green. That will work. And it did because it's a fact that blue and yellow make green. But instead of the lime green I was picturing, it came out looking like pond scum, hence the name "Slime Curd Tart". It looked like it might come to life. Other than the off-putting color, it tasted really great. Here is the recipe:

Slime

Slime Curd Tart

Coconut Shortbread Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (about 3 ounces)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan (I used a 10 inch tart pan, but you can use whatever you have). In the bowl of a food processor, pulse flour, coconut, powdered sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in large bowl until well blended, 30 seconds. Add butter; pulse until moist clumps form. Press dough onto bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of pan. Bake crust until golden (edges will be darker), about 25 minutes. Allow to cool to room temp.

Cream Cheese Layer:

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Whip the cream cheese and powdered sugar in food processor (I used the same bowl and blade that I used for the crust. Just wiped it out with a paper towel first. 'Cause I'm lazy like that.)

Lime Curd:

• 3/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lime zest
• *3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

Whisk together lime juice, lime zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart saucepan.

Cut butter into bits and add to mixture.

Cook mixture, stirring constantly, over moderately low heat until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes. Cover its surface with plastic wrap and allow to cool in refrigerator. Can be made and kept in fridge for up to 1 week. (Original recipe called for lemon juice and zest. That would be lovely in this tart also.)

* This recipe is a little on the tart side, so if you aren't into that, increase the amount of sugar to 1 cup. I like it tart, so I kept it at 3/4 cup.

Put it together:

Spread Cream cheese mixture in bottom of crust. Pour cooled lime curd on top of cream cheese. Spread, taking care not to mix the cream cheese and curd. At this point, you can put plastic wrap directly on the curd and pop it in the fridge to set up over night and then top it with fresh whipped cream and serve it like that. Lucious. Or you can do what I did... let it set in the fridge (with plastic wrap on the curd) over night, slice a quart of ripe strawberries and arrange them on top. Brush with some melted apricot jam to give them some shine and serve whipped cream on the side (because it was too pretty to put it on top). Both ways would be delish.

Sources:
Crust adapted from here
Curd adapted from here
Cream cheese layer adapted from Pop-Pop Florian