I recently found a convenient way to use up some extra limes and some extra white chocolate I had on hand: a lime mousse tart from epicurious.com. This is one of those easy tarts where you fully bake the crust by itself, and then just pour in the filling and chill it until it's set.
You make the crust in the food processor by mixing together flour, toasted almonds, powdered sugar, salt, and chilled butter; and then adding water until the dough comes together. You press the dough into a tart pan, freeze the crust until firm, and then fully bake it until golden. The recipe doesn't instruct you to weigh down the crust during baking, and my crust became very puffy and shrank significantly in height (but not diameter) while it was in the oven. It looked a lot like a giant cookie, and I used a tart tamper to flatten the bottom and restore definition to the sides of the crust, while it was still hot.
The tart filling is a gelatin-stabilized mousse. You melt white chocolate in heavy cream that's been brought to a simmer, and then add gelatin that has been softened in lime juice. You mix in lime zest, and then chill the mixture until it begins to thicken. Once it's cold, you fold in a mixture of sugar, sour cream, and heavy cream that has been beaten to medium-stiff peaks. Then you spread the mousse into the baked tart shell and chill it.
You're supposed to top the tart with sliced strawberries glazed with jam, but I didn't want to the use the flavorless berries that are in the supermarket now that strawberry season is past. So I just served the tart as is, without any topping.
The mousse set to a beautiful consistency that kept it shape after slicing. This tart was fantastic. Even though I couldn't taste the almonds in the crust, it was perfectly firm and not soggy at all. The filling was so smooth and creamy, and the combination of white chocolate, lime, and cream was rich and reminded me of key lime pie. The tart was not heavy at all, but it was full of flavor and very satisfying. I can imagine that a strawberry topping would be a terrific complement -- but even without it, the tart was absolutely delicious.
Recipe: "Strawberry-Topped Lime Mousse Tart" from epicurious.com.
You make the crust in the food processor by mixing together flour, toasted almonds, powdered sugar, salt, and chilled butter; and then adding water until the dough comes together. You press the dough into a tart pan, freeze the crust until firm, and then fully bake it until golden. The recipe doesn't instruct you to weigh down the crust during baking, and my crust became very puffy and shrank significantly in height (but not diameter) while it was in the oven. It looked a lot like a giant cookie, and I used a tart tamper to flatten the bottom and restore definition to the sides of the crust, while it was still hot.
The tart filling is a gelatin-stabilized mousse. You melt white chocolate in heavy cream that's been brought to a simmer, and then add gelatin that has been softened in lime juice. You mix in lime zest, and then chill the mixture until it begins to thicken. Once it's cold, you fold in a mixture of sugar, sour cream, and heavy cream that has been beaten to medium-stiff peaks. Then you spread the mousse into the baked tart shell and chill it.
Recipe: "Strawberry-Topped Lime Mousse Tart" from epicurious.com.
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