Oh, how times change. I had kind of thought that last year’s lemon cream tart would be my first and last citrus cream experience. Seriously, that is a lot of butter. But apparently, my attitude toward rich foods has slowly evolved from ‘this is way too fattening for me to indulge in more than a few bites at a time’ to ‘well…it’s not like I eat like this all the time…’ except that, these days, I kinda do.
The lime cream is made almost exactly the same as last year’s lemon cream – heat sugar, eggs, zest, and juice, then blend in softened butter – with the only difference a couple teaspoons of cornstarch that is added to the lime version, along with grated fresh ginger. Don’t take me lightly when I say there’s a lot of butter involved – the full pie calls for 2½ sticks (20 tablespoons), and that doesn’t even include the portion in the crust.
Fortunately, I was hearing that some Tuesdays with Dorie members were decreasing the butter, sometimes by as much as half. I didn’t make quite such a dramatic change, using 4 tablespoons for the quarter of the recipe I made – so the equivalent of 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) for a whole recipe. It worked really well.
I do like these citrus creams. I’m a big fan of citrus desserts, and of smooth, rich custards, so the combination is wonderful. I also really like meringue and, you know, torching food. So there really wasn’t much not to like for me this week! Except for the tiny portions I forced upon myself. Ah, compromise…
Linda has the recipe posted. I decreased the meringue by half, because I happened to have that amount of egg whites leftover from something else. Also, I didn’t strain out the zest.
One year ago: Black (and Pink) and White Chocolate Cake
Glad your attitude changed, since that pie looks sensational!! 🙂
I think this pie could win anybody over! It looks so good!
I’ve become a bigger fan of citrus creams. I was eating this by the spoonful! Your torching job looks really pretty!
I love the look of your meringue! You are the meringue queen! 🙂
You need to get a sponsorship from a torch manufacturer, because I know you’ve sold at least two propane torches with these recent meringues. So gorgeous!
I haven’t made this yet, but when I do I know I’ll use my torch on the meringue. Your pie is so pretty!
Oh I love it in these little cups! It looks so wonderful!
This looks really tasty!
Pie looks very purr-ty!! Lot’s of butter, I agree.. I had my share, so all the left overs left my house this morning enroute to my sweets loving office people! Keep baking!
Your tart is beautiful! I’m glad you liked it.
The last photo makes me wanna eat at least 5 of these delicious pies !!!
Yum and adorable!
I love your adorable mini pies — perfect portion control. I’m definitely going to cut back on the butter the next time.
thanks for baking along with me this week!
That’s my reasoning these days as well…if only it were only a ‘once and a while’ thing…
Those look beautiful!
I actually like the ratio of cream to meringue in yours – I’m a bigger fan of citrus than meringue though. Oh, and I didn’t even use butter, so it was more like a curd. Still verrrry tasty though.
Yes, it certainly was a butter rich recipe! Your pie looks fabulous!
what a cute little pie!