Coconut Tarts

Yummy, flaky, light, creamy, coconut goodness. Lovely.

Coconut tarts. The result of not having tart pans, and wanting to make tarts. Used the pie crust recipe I used on the apple pie I had made, picked off a recipe at random for the coconut custard, and because I decided they looked too much like eggtarts, I threw on some coconut.

I had actually made three types of tarts before this (egg, strawberry, coconut), but this one was definitely the winner of the three. A little something something to impress (and show-off) to guests. And to horde for yourself;

I used a muffin pan for the tart shells (although I really do wish I had tart pans and what not..)
Anyways, without further ado!

Coconut Tarts (makes roughly 18)


Ingredients

Coconut Filling:
1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk
1 cup whole milk (used skim milk, was absolutely fine)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I used sweetened, and was -very- generous aka. hello two cups of coconut, with this. Turned out great)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3/8 teaspoon salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Tart Shells:

2 tablespoons plain yogurt
>2 tablespoons ice water (the less liquid you use, the better)
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold diced unsalted butter
1/2 cup cold diced crisco
2 teaspoons lemon juice

extra sweetened coconut for topping (I used at least an extra cup)

Directions

Filling:
1.Pour milk, coconut milk, shredded coconut, 1/2 cup of sugar and salt in a medium (whatismediumanyways..) sized pot with the stove on medium high heat. Let the mixture come to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk 1 tablespoon of sugar, 5 egg yolks and cornstarch together, mixing thoroughly.
3. Add this egg yolk mixture gradually into the milk mixture, constantly whisking to ensure that the egg mixture incorporates with the milk mixture (as opposed to being cooked by the heat before it can mix..likeIdid..)
4. Continue to whisk on the stove until the mixture has thickened, it begins to boil, and becomes a custard consistency (1-3minutes?)
5. Take pot off the stove, mix in butter and vanilla
6. Immediately cover with saran wrap to avoid a skin forming on the top of the custard. Cool and refrigerate (at least 3-4 hours).

Crust:
1. Stir 1 cup of flour sugar and salt together in a large bowl
2. cut in pieces of butter until butter is dime sized.
3. add shortening, and cut into mixture until dime sized.
4. stir in remaining flour
5. Gradually mix in yogurt + all lemon juice (sparingly).
6. Incorporate liquids by squeezing flour against side of bowl. You want the dough to come together with as little manipulation as possible. Only continue to add water as necessary until dough forms, and dry crumbs are still seen on the bottom of the bowl.
7. Flatten slightly and wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.


Assembly:

1. Roll out pie crust on floured surface, using a floured rolling pin (Don't worry too much about how you roll it out, you're fitting them into muffin tins anyways. Does not have to be a pretty circle by any means)
2. Roughly cut dough out into circular pieces (don't need to make it perfect, you'll be shaping it into the muffin tin anyways) and fit into the muffin tin. Patch and shape until you are happy with the tart shells appearance.
3. Freeze for about an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 375F
5. Fill tarts with custard (Do not fill completely to the top, the filling will rise just slightly)
6. Let tarts bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops just start to brown.
Optional: Take the tarts out after 12~ minutes, and waste a lot of tin foil to place over the tart shell edges, so they don't turn completely brown while they're baking for the remaining time...

7. Toast up shredded coconut topping while the tarts are baking (watch them carefully! It took my toaster oven 5 minutes to toast, and the first few times I attempted this I burned a cup and a half of coconut to black.. ... greatcookiknow.)

8. Pull out tarts, let them cool for 10 minutes. Top with toasted shredded coconut.