the details
I think we can all agree key lime pie is great. It’s one of those quintessential summer (or if you’re me, year round) favorites that I think of as a real treat. The only thing is…I am kind of grossed out by sweetened condensed milk, which is a traditional ingredient of key lime pie. Anyone else with me?? I always thought there must be a better way. To keep the tartness of the key lime, but reduce the syrupy sweetness and heaviness of traditional key lime filling. So here we are, my Fluffy Key Lime Tart.
This Fluffy Key Lime Tart borrows from lemon meringue pie and tarte au citron. It has all the flavors of key lime pie, but is fluffy and light rather than sticky and weighed down. It’s got a thick buttery graham crust, smooth and cream tart lime filling, and whipped, cloud-like meringue topping. It looks beautiful and effervescent, with nice defined layers. Even better, you can make it up to the filling the night before, store in the fridge, and whip up the meringue when you’re ready to serve.
Ingredients + Process
This key lime tart uses Christina Tosi’s key lime curd recipe from All About Cake as the filling of the tart. Though she uses this recipe for a layer in a key lime pie layer cake, I simply doubled the proportions for the perfect filling ratio. Sometimes, good recipes don’t need to be adapted. They are just great the way they are. That’s how I feel about this melt-in-your-mouth lime curd. I just know you’ll love it too.
A couple notes– Key lime juice squeezed fresh or store bought juice both work in this recipe. Gelatin sheets can be purchased online for use in the curd. Though you can substitute powdered unflavored gelatin, in my experience, gelatin sheets are SO much easier to work with and yield a more consistent result. Lastly, make sure your meringue is whipped to STIFF peaks, meaning, the meringue will not moved when shaken around on the whisk!
The process.
- Make graham, crust
- Make lime curd filling
- Fill tart crust and chill
- Make meringue topping
- Spoon and decorate tart with meringue
- Bake
- Enjoy!
Music by: Cookin’ on 3 Burners
Similar Recipes
If you love the tangy curd with sweet meringue of this recipe, you’ll probably like my Passionfruit + Vanilla Bean Meringue Clouds. Such a light treat for spring or summer with fragrant passionfruit curd nestled in a crunchy meringue nest.
Bake to this music
Fluffy Key Lime Tart
Key lime pie meets tarte au citron meets lemon meringue pie. This tart features a buttery graham crust, tart and velvety-smooth lime curd filling, and pillowy clouds of vanilla meringue. A show stopper and palate-pleaser alike. The recipe uses Christina Tosi’s recipe for key lime curd from Momofuku Milk Bar: A Cookbook, which is too perfect to change in any way.
Ingredients
For the graham crust:
- 1 1/2 cup graham crumbs from freshly crushed graham crackers (about half a package of grahams)
- 8 tbsp salted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
For the lime curd:
- 1 cup key lime juice
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 8 large eggs
- 1 silver gelatin sheet
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
For the meringue:
- 4 large egg whites, room temp
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- lime zest for garnish
Instructions
- Make the graham crust. Pulse graham crackers/crumbs with melted butter and brown sugar in a food processor or blender until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press into a 9 inch tart pan and set aside.
- Make the key lime curd. Combine key lime juice and sugar in a blender and process until sugar has dissolved. Add eggs and blend until smooth and yellow. Pour out blender contents into a medium saucepan, and clean out the blender canister. Bloom gelatin by soaking the sheet in a large bowl of cold water. Heat liquid in the saucepan on low, whisking constantly as it heats. Continue mixing and watch carefully–once mixture thickens and begins to bubble, take off the heat and transfer to your clean blender canister. Add bloomed gelatin, cold butter, and salt. Blend until smooth and shiny.
- Pour lime curd into your graham tart crust and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set. You may have some leftover lime curd after filling the tart.
- Make your meringue. Beat egg whites, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl with the whisk attachment on medium high. Slowly pour in sugar until combined. Continue beating on medium-high until the meringue is thick, glossy, and forms stiff peaks.
- Spread/pipe your meringue on top of the cold lime curd, making sure the meringue reaches to the edge of the crust and covers the lime curd completely. Torch your meringue to brown it, or stick it in the oven on the bottom rack at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes.
- Let cool on a wire rack for an hour. Move to fridge and allow to chill at least an hour before serving. Garnish with lime zest if desired. Keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days, best eaten day of assembly.
Notes
- You can spread the meringue and create swirls with the back of a spoon or pipe it on any way you desire. Have fun! To toast the meringue, a kitchen torch will work, or bake at 350 degrees F on the bottom rack of an oven for 10 minutes or until meringue begins to brown on top.
- Don’t let the gelatin in the curd intimidate you! Silver gelatin sheets can be purchased on Amazon. To bloom the gelatin, soak the gelatin sheet in a bowl of cold water for about 5 minutes, until gelatin sheet is wiggly but not falling apart in your hands.
- 1/2 tsp powdered gelatin (bloomed) can be substituted for 1 silver gelatin sheet.
- I’ve made this recipe with key lime juice (bottled from the grocery store) and fresh conventional lime juice. They are both great, but nothing beats actual key limes.
Keywords: key lime, lime tart, meringue