23 Dec Coconut and Lime Christmas Trees

Tastivore recently asked me to develop a super-simple Christmas dessert recipe for them. I decided on these striking Coconut and Lime Christmas trees! Not only is this recipe quick and easy, but it transforms a simple tart into beautiful upright Christmas trees. The good news is that the tart can be made ahead, and one tart makes 10 slices so its great for feeding a big table of guests. Both important factors when choosing a Christmas dessert!

The flavour of the tart is much like a lemon meringue pie (without the meringue of course). The addition of coconut to the base gives an extra hint of tropical crunch that I love! The decorative drizzle of white chocolate is what really makes these tart slices into festive trees, so don’t skip this step.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
80g butter, softened
50g sugar
110g flour
50g desiccated coconut

For the Lime Custard:
385g tin condensed milk
3 large egg yolks
125ml lime juice
5ml lime zest
1 drop of green food colouring

100g white chocolate, for decorating
white star sugar decorations, optional

Directions:

• Spray a rectangular tart tin with cooking spray (I used a rectangular loose-bottomed tin, 36 x 12 cm). Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the flour and coconut and mix well until you have coarse crumbs. Press this mixture into the tart tin and dock with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes or until just turning golden.
• To make the lime custard, pour the condensed milk into a bowl and add the egg yolks. Beat well. Add in the lime juice, zest and green food colouring as desired. Mix well.
• Pour this mixture over the warm base and bake for a further 10 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly in the tin, then chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until completely set. Remove the tart from the tin and slice into tall triangles.
• Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave at 20-30 second intervals. Fill a piping bag with the melted chocolate and pipe thin lines over each tart triangle to create a tinsel-like effect. Place a white sugar star at the tip of each triangle if desired.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve. Stand the tart triangles upright on plates before serving.