An Easy Lime Tart with Biscoff Crust
It's as easy as pie, and comes together in a flash.
Cold desserts are some of the best! I love how refreshing they can be after a heavy, cozy meal. Cheesecake, tiramisu, key lime pie, banana pudding, lemon tarts… I would actually love a little sampler platter of all of those, if you don’t mind? Lemon tarts are one of my favorite pastries to make when I have time to make curd, tart dough, and stabilized whipped cream. BUT, I love a classic key lime pie with a graham cracker crust just as much, and they can come together and be baked in less than an hour! After procrastinating till the near death of me, I baked two of these the day of for our Friendsgiving/Housewarming last weekend. Easy!
The simple but powerful crumb crust is your easy way out of making pie dough. They take way less time— we’re talking 10 minutes if you’re focused. Sure, you could make a classic apple or pumpkin pie, but those are best with pie dough, and that takes time (and technique, tbh). In a bakery setting, time is MONEY! That’s why your favorite bakery also loves making crumb crusts, with minimal labor required.
Using a 9-inch tart pan means we can use exactly one 8.8 ounce sleeve of Biscoff cookies (32 exactly). I love when things work out perfectly like this! The Biscoff crust tastes a little sweeter than a typical graham cracker crust, which is a great counter to the tart lime filling. To me, nothing is worse than an overly sweet key lime pie, so expect this to be appropriately tart.
A note on key lime pie: a key lime is a very tiny lime that packs more punch than regular limes, but takes more work to juice and zest. They can be tricky to find depending on where you live, and while I probably could find some in Los Angeles if I wanted to search, I opted out for convenience. I doubt you’ll miss them or the extra work they bring, but also… “most of the key lime pies” you see in stores are almost certainly not using real key limes (and if they are— try them and report back, Nancy Drew!).
Lime Tart with Biscoff Crust
1 sleeve Biscoff cookies
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 can sweetened condensed milk
5 egg yolks
½ cup lime juice, freshly squeezed
1 teaspoon lime zest (optional)
1 ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
½ vanilla bean, scraped, optional
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Set a 9-inch* tart pan on a baking sheet.
Make the crust: place the Biscoff cookies in the food processor. Pulse until crushed into fine crumbs, then add sugar and butter. Pulse until combined. Press the mixture (it should be like wet sand) into the tart shell: first into the bottom, packing it with a measuring cup, then up the sides, using your fingers to firmly press it into the edges. Bake for 9 minutes, then let cool briefly.
Make the filling: add the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, lime juice, and zest to a large measuring cup or blender. Blend (an immersion blender is what I use) until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Pour this mixture into the baked crust.
Bake the tart for 9-10 minutes, until the center is no longer shiny and it barely jiggles. This is a thin tart, so it bakes quickly!
Chill the tart in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours, until cold. Meanwhile, you can whip the cream and powdered sugar to almost stiff peaks, then refrigerate it until you’re ready to assemble.
Top and serve: add the whipped cream to the top of the tart in a high pile and use the back of a spoon to make a bunch of swooshes in the cream. At this point, you can chill for 1 hour longer to firm it up, or serve right away. (I piped a ring of whipped cream on my tart, but you can do whatever you please!)
*Note on tart pan size: this recipe will definitely work in an 8-inch tart pan as well, you’ll just have a little bit of crust leftover and slightly longer (1-2 minutes) bake time.