No-Bake Paleo Lemon-Lime Tarts are an easy, grain-free dessert to enjoy on a hot summer day, featuring a quick lemon-lime curd and a 4-ingredient coconut crust. Full disclosure: This lemon-lime curd took me a couple tries to perfect, but after getting the process down, I want to make this curd every single week. It’s creamy, delicious, and has just the right amount of sweetness and tartness to it. So much deliciousness in these pretty little tarts.
I’ve mentioned before how lemon desserts hold a special place in my heart, so these little tarts were a total labor of love. And they were partly inspired by my favorite store-bought grain-free treats: Hail Merry tarts, which are pure heaven. Seriously, find a store near you that sells Hail Merry tarts and get one. They’re just so darn good.
With that said, these are the perfect healthy treat for a summer day. They have zero refined sugar (with just a little honey to sweeten the curd, and a little coconut sugar for the “crust”) and they’re also 100% grain-free, almost dairy-free (you could potentially take out the butter if you’re dairy-free), and they still taste completely decadent.
the process
Even though these No-Bake Paleo Lemon-Lime Tarts take a couple steps (i.e., making the curd and then processing the crust), they’re incredibly quick and surprisingly easy. The idea of making a lemon-lime curd from scratch intimidated me at first, but it’s not nearly as difficult as you might think. The key to making a curd involves two steps. First, before you even turn on the stovetop, mix all of your ingredients in the saucepan ahead of time (minus the butter). Then, set it to low heat, and whisk like crazy for five straight minutes. That’s when the magic happens. It will start to froth and become foamy, and very quickly, you’ll have a smooth and creamy curd.
For the tart assembly, you’ll want to use a few nonstick mini tart pans. I don’t know the brand I used offhand, but the closest ones I could find were these guys from Williams-Sonoma (the most magical kitchen store that I would probably move into if I could). You could probably use a muffin tin as well, but the mini tart pans are pretty perfect for this recipe. And once you have these done (in about 25 minutes), your friends will think you spent hours slaving over this healthy gourmet dessert. Mission accomplished.
No-Bake Paleo Lemon-Lime Tarts
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of lemon and lime juice from about 2 lemons and 3 limes
- 3 eggs
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter
For the coconut crust
- 2 cups shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- Optional: fresh cherries and shredded coconut for topping
Instructions
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Add lemon-lime juice, eggs, honey, vanilla, and salt to a small saucepan, and whisk all ingredients together
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Turn heat on and continuously whisk ingredients over Low heat for 5 minutes
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NOTE: As the curd comes together, it will look foamy at first and then thicken into a mousse-like sauce; depending on the heat of your stove, you may need to continue heating and whisking for a minute or two longer for it to come together
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Once the lemon-lime curd has formed, take it off heat and then stir in the butter. You can let it sit at room temperature while you're making the crust or refrigerate in a glass jar or container
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To make the crust, add shredded coconut, coconut oil, and salt to a food processor and process on Low for 2 minutes
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Scrape down bowl and add coconut sugar, process on Low for another 2 minutes
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Spoon thin layer of crust mixture into bottom of nonstick mini tart pans
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Place tarts in freezer to harden crust for 5-10 minutes (they should harden very quickly because of the coconut oil)
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Once the tart crusts are ready, spoon curd on top of the crusts, then top with fresh cherries and shredded coconut; refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving