Oreo-Lime Brulee
This is one of those things that I’ve been meaning to try for ages — I tore this Gray Kunz recipe out of a Food & Wine magazine nearly three years ago, but it became covered up with a blanket of recipes that I stacked on top of it.
Then I forgot about it.
I have recipes everywhere that I want to test – ripped from the pages of magazines in both French and English; in dozens of cookbooks marked with hot pink and baby blue flags; and ideas scribbled in notebooks and on Post-its – all over the apartment.
Do y’all do that, too?
Thing is, I’ve neglected my own love for all things lime and lemon because the boyfriend, Xavier, doesn’t like the taste of either of these great citrus fruits, something that I’ll never understand. So I’ve focused making on other things – ones that he’ll enjoy and we can share – but in doing so, I realized that I’ve been depriving myself of lots of great lemony and limey recipes.
Enough of that nonsense, I decided.
So on my next trip to the Casino, I bought limes, intending to make the tart. But I forgot the sweetened condensed milk.
Perhaps I really wasn’t ready to make it after all.
Then, last week, I went to a picnic on the Seine with some friends, among them Heather Stimmler-Hall, a fantastic writer who penned the award-winning guidebook, “Naughty Paris,” and former Chez Panisse pastry chef and top food blogger David Lebovitz, who just released his fifth book, a hilarious memoir that chronicles his often maddening run-ins with the French, entitled “The Sweet Life in Paris.”
David brought a dee-licious lime tart, covered in a fluffy cloud of meringue. Oh, sweet heaven!
It was all gone before I could beg for another piece.
Inspired and jonesing for more, the next day, I made the recipe that I’d been saving, which was easier than I’d imagined. I added more limes because I like tarty tarts, rather than too-sweet ones. I didn’t use Key limes, because they’re not available around Paris, but they’d be really nice if you can find them.
I probably don’t have to tell you this, but this is also great for breakfast. (Hello, coffee!)
Oreo-Lime Brulee
Adapted from a recipe by Gray Kunz.
(makes 5 1/2-cup tarts)
5 Oreo cookies
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 egg yolks
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
⅔ cup lime juice
zest of two limes
granulated cane sugar, for brulee top
Preheat oven to 350.
1. Put Oreo cookies in food processor and pulse until it’s a mixture of fine crumbs. Add butter and pulse again.
2. Press Oreo mixture into the bottoms of 5 small tart pans (that hold 1/2 cup of filling), or 2 slightly larger tart pans (these are individual size tart pans).
3. Put the pans on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges start to look a bit dry. Let cool
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks, condensed milk, lime juice, and zest. Fill tart pans, leaving just a smidge of room at the top.
5. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges start to firm up.
6. Put in the fridge for 2 hours, at least.
7. Before serving, sprinkle with sugar and hit the tarts with a blow torch to caramelize.
