Saturday morning I woke up with a mission in mind: Something green and sweet needed to appear in my kitchen.
Mission Accomplished. Sort of.
Lime Cheesecake Tarts.
I wanted to have a little St. Patrick's Day fun, but I decided to veer from the predictable mint path and go straight for some light and fluffy lime fun. These little cheesecakes are delicate and subtle. They aren't super sweet, nor are they really sour. They are PERFECTION because they are like eating little lime clouds.
Oh, and they are super easy, too.
You start with a package of cream cheese, 3/4 cup of sugar, the juice from two limes, and the zest from two limes.
And don't try to tell me that you don't know what "zest" is. It's the peel from the lime. Just scrape the green off of a lime with a grater and you'll be all set.
Don't have a grater? You should. They are something like $2 at IKEA. (Make your own laundry soap and you'll have paid for that grater in less than a week.)
Take a mixer to the cream cheese, sugar, lime juice, and lime zest until it's smooth and creamy. It takes about two minutes.
In a separate bowl, it's time to make some whip cream. You'll need 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and a mixer.
At first the cream will make bubbles, but if you keep beating it...
...it'll get thicker...
...and thicker...
And thicker. See those lines in the cream? That's where it's starting to hold it's shape. Your heavy cream has turned into whip cream when you can make little peaks in it and they don't fall over.
It won't drip from your mixer either.
Once your whip cream is all done, you'll add it little by little to the cream cheese mixture, gently stirring until it's completely blended. You'll be left with an amazing no bake lime cheesecake filling that you can use with any sort of crust.
I took the easy route.
You can find Mini Fillo Shells in the frozen section of your grocery store next to the pie crusts. You could also use a graham cracker crust or a standard pie crust. It's all good.
Especially if you garnish it with a little bit more lime zest.
Lime Cheesecake Tarts
3 packages frozen mini fillo shells (or one pie crust--graham or regular)
1 package cream cheese (I have used reduced fat cream cheese and the recipe turns out just fine)
3/4 cup sugar
Juice from 2 limes
Zest from 2 limes
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1. Take the Fillo Shells out of the package. Ta-dah! You're done preparing the crusts!
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, lime juice, and lime zest with a mixer on low speed until smooth (about two minutes).
3. In a separate large bowl, beat the heavy cream with a mixer at high speed until peaks begin to form.
4. Add the cream cheese mixture to the whip cream little by little, gently stirring to combine the two.
5. Spoon the lime cheesecake filling into your pie crust or Fillo Shells.
6. Garnish with a bit of lime zest.
7. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes before eating.
8. Try not to eat all of it at once. (I may have failed at this step. It's possible.)
