My Easter Weekend and a Triple Coconut Mini Tart Recipe

Well, Easter is officially over and I am enjoying a big bowl of oatmeal this morning while working on this blog post in order to get ready for an intense workout to burn off a lot of what I ate yesterday. I like to enjoy myself on holidays and pretty much let myself indulge, and now I have to make up for it today by watching what I eat and putting in some time with my morning workout.

We usually don't decorate too much for Easter at my house, but this year I wanted our dining table to feel festive. I got home on Friday from Rhode Island and the next day I went to the dollar store and Walmart to buy some simple and cheap decorating supplies. I made little nests and put some fake glittered eggs in them, which I think turned out really cute. I even used a chocolate bunny as part of the decorations!

These little triple coconut mini tarts were the only food that I had time to take a picture of. Out of everything that I made, these tarts were definitely my favorite. If you're a coconut lover, this is the dessert for you. They are absolutely delicious and full of coconut flavor! You can find the recipe for these below!

Overall, I had a great Easter Sunday. I ate great food which included asparagus with lemon breadcrumbs, homemade challah bread, carrot and lemon risotto, beef tenderloin, rosemary roasted potatoes and a salad with bibb lettuce and radishes. The lemon tarts and triple coconut tarts were also an amazing and delicious way to end the big meal. I of course had one of each.

I hope you had a great weekend and enjoy this exciting marathon Monday!

Triple Coconut Mini Tarts:

(original recipe from: http://www.myrecipes.com/)

Coconut Pie Shells:

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3-5 tablespoons ice water

1. Pulse together the flour, coconut, butter, sugar and salt in a food processor until coarse crumbs are formed. Add in the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse just until the dough holds together.
2. Turn the dough out onto the counter and form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
3. Spray a cupcake pan with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Unwrap the dough and roll it out on the counter into a large circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Cut circles out of the dough using either a round cookie cutter or a drinking glass. Transfer the circles of dough into the cupcake pan, pressing up on the edges just a bit to form a small bowl shape.
5. Preheat the oven to 400°. Bake the pie shells for 12-15 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown. Let the pie shells completely cool before filling.

Coconut Pastry Cream:

2 cups milk

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Put the milk, coconut and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and flour. Slowly whisk some of the warm milk mixture into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Then slowly whisk the warm egg mixture into the milk in the saucepan. Whisk over medium high heat until the mixture starts to thicken, about 5 minutes.
3. Transfer the milk mixture into a medium bowl and set that bowl into a larger bowl full of ice water. Occasionally stir the mixture until it reaches room temperature. Cover the now cooled mixture with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Coconut Whipped Cream:

1 can coconut cream

4 tablespoons powdered sugar

1. Spoon the cream from the coconut cream into a stand mixer and add in the powdered sugar. Mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes and then mix on high speed for another minute or 2, until the cream becomes airy and somewhat firm (basically like a whipped cream texture).

Assembling the tarts:

1. Put the pastry cream into a pastry bag with a round tip and fill each pie shell with the cream.
2. Fill another pastry bag with the whipped cream and top the pastry cream with the whipped cream.
3. Garnish the tarts with a little bit of shredded coconut and enjoy!