Mini Key Lime Pie Tarts

I think I have mentioned before how I love anything Key Lime..... I ran across this recipe on Pinterest and had to give them a try. We had a St. Patrick's Day Salad Bar at work, and knowing me, I thought this would be a perfect bite size dessert to take. The original recipe is here but of course I tweaked mine just a bit. I noticed it didn't have any sugar in the crust...what kind of pastry would that be without sugar!!! Thought it must have been left out on accident from the recipe. So I added it to mine and also I didn't have macadamia nuts....but I did have almond flour...so I thought I'd try that. Then for that crunch that would be missing from lack of nuts, I had some toasted coconut crunchy topping that I got from the Prepared Pantry. You know the crunch coconut that is often on top of maple iced donuts! YUMMM so I thought that would be perfect in these. If you don't have them, regular toasted coconut would work just fine. I made the filling as the recipe said, but I added a bit of citric acid to the lime juice...just gives it a bit more tang. LOVED these! I didn't have any left on my tray by the end of the day at work. Enjoy!

Mini Key Lime Pie Tarts
Crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup toasted coconut crunch topping (or regular toasted coconut)
Dash of salt

Filling:
2 egg yolks
1/2 (14 oz) can  sweetened condensed milk, (2/3 cup)
1/2 teaspoon lime zest ( basically most of 1 lime zested)
1/4 cup lime juice ( bottled or fresh)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon citric acid, dissolve this in the lime juice before adding to the filling.
2 drops green food coloring.

Whipped cream for garnishing

Directions:

-In a medium bowl, combine butter and cream cheese. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until combined. Add flour, powdered sugar, almond flour, toasted coconut and dash of salt. Beat on low speed just until combined. Cover and chill for 30 to 60 minutes or until dough is easy to handle.

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Shape dough into 24 or more balls. Press each ball evenly into the bottoms and up the sides of 24 ungreased 1-3/4-inch muffin cups. Bake in a preheated oven for 12 to 15  minutes or until edges are just turning golden brown. Cool slightly in pan on a wire rack.

-Meanwhile, for filling, in a medium bowl, beat egg yolks with a whisk. Gradually whisk in sweetened condensed milk. Add lime peel, lime juice with citric acid in it, and, if desired, green food coloring. Stir just until combined (mixture will thicken slightly).

Spoon about 1 tablespoon filling into each pastry cup. Bake about 8 minutes or until filling is set in center. Cool tarts in pan on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove tarts from the muffin cups. Transfer tarts to a wire rack; let cool. Chill for 2 to 3 hours or until completely chilled. Just before serving, top tarts with Whipped Cream and if desired, toasted coconut. Makes 24-30 tarts.