Pomelo-Coconut Tart with Candied Citrus

I love citrus desserts. It all started when I was pregnant. I was watching episodes of Dexter back to back and, in case you don’t watch the show, in Season Three, there’s this whole subplot where Dexter is trying to find “the perfect key lime pie” for a family friend on her death bed. Five months pregnant, bored out of my mind, lonely, and constantly starving, watching those episodes of Dexter was all it took to ignite the most hardcore craving for key lime pie in the history of ever. But it didn’t stop, and the key lime pie craving turned into a an insatiable hunger for all things sweet and citrus. Lemon meringue, orange sticky buns, blood orange sorbet….all were consumed in disgusting quantities….

Anyway, in the midst of my citrus dessert frenzy I started toying around with ideas about how to expand the classic key lime pie recipe to other citrus fruits….and although my daughter is 17 months old, I am just now moving out of the realm of fantasy into actually making it happen. *Sigh* there’s been a lot going on…and I am incredibly lazy.

This recipe calls for pomelos — which are more or less really big, slightly sweet grapefruits — but you could certainly use regular grapefruit (or lemon, lime, blood orange, or any other relatively sour citrus) in place of them. The crust is essentially a coconut shortbread, and the filling a revision of the classic key lime pie. Candied citrus 100% optional.

Ingredients:

Candied Citrus (needs to be done 1-2 days ahead of serving):

– 20-25 very thin (I recommend using a mandolin) slices of citrus, any kind

– 1 1/2 c. sugar

Crust:

– 1/2 c. sweetened coconut flakes

– 3/4 c. flour

– 1/2 c. cold butter

– 1/3 c. powdered sugar

– 1/4 tsp. salt

Filling:

– 2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk

– 2 Tbsp. finely grated pomelo zest

– 1 cup freshly squeezed pomelo juice

– 4 large egg yolks

 

 

Directions:

1. Place sliced citrus in a large casserole dish. Cover each piece well with sugar. Toss to coat.

2. Cover and place in refrigerator. Let sit 1-2 days, tossing occasionally.

3. Preheat oven to 350F

4. Spread coconut over a sheet pan and toast, stirring occasionally until golden — about 10 minutes. Let cool.

5. Combine flour, coconut, powdered sugar, and salt in a large bowl

6. Cut in cold butter. Mix until dough just begins to form. (This can most easily be done by pulsing in a food processor, but I did it by hand and got the same result….with a bit more time and effort)

7. Form dough into a ball

8. Press dough into a tart or pie pan

9. Freeze until firm — about 10 minutes

10. Bake at 350F until golden  — about 25 minutes — then set aside and allow to cool completely

11. Whisk together freshly squeezed pomelo juice, zest, and egg yolks

12. Slowly add sweetened condensed milk, whisking all the while

13. Pour filling into pie crust (you will have some left over — I poured it into a tiny dish and baked it separately)

14. Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until just set in the center

15. Let cool 30 minutes

16. Loosely cover and chill in refrigerator 8 hours or longer. Filling will set as it cools and bubbles in filling will disappear

17. Decorate with candied citrus. I also mixed together a little powdered sugar and water and coated the edge of my pie pan so that I could adhere toasted coconut for added decoration.

18. Serve chilled. Excellent with fresh sweet whipped cream…

Perfect Pie Crust Recipe

Here is my recipe for perfect, flaky pie crust. It is simple to make, and easy to remember as it is all 1s and 3s. You can easily make it vegan by substituting the butter with butter substitute or vegetable shortening.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1 cup butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup ice water

Directions:

1. Place flour in a large bowl

2. Add sugar and salt and mix well

3. Cut butter into small pea sized pieces. I do this by “shaving” the butter with a knife

4. Work the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs, as seen below:

 I used half white flour and half whole wheat flour here, which is why it appears a bit dark

5. Slowly add ice water while mixing with a spoon. As you add the ice water you will see your crust begin to come together. It may seem a bit dry to you after all of the water has been added, but that is normal! Here’s what mine looked like after all of the water was added:

6. Now pack your dough together using your hands and divide into two equal parts. It is very important to touch your pie dough as little as possible. You want those bits of butter to stay as in tact as they can — that’s why we use ice water here. Those bits of butter are what’s going to make your pie crust flaky and rich. Shape each part into a fat disk, like so:

7. Cover and place in refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.

8. Lightly flour your work surface and your rolling pin.

9. Roll one disk at a time, starting in the middle and working your way outward. Flip after every four rolls so that crust does not stick to your work surface.

10. Roll out until it is 1-2 mm thick

11. Gently transfer to your pie pan

12. Roll out your second piece of dough to use for your pie top. If you are making a “topless” pie (for example, pecan) this dough freezes really well. Or you can always just halve the recipe….:)