We are so fortunate to have great friends wherever we live who watch Charlie for us. I don’t know how we manage, but it seems in every city we are blessed with amazing dog sitters. We typically try to thank people for watching him with a gift certificate or a token from wherever we’d just visited. However, our friends who have watched Charlie lately go above and beyond. They literally saved his life. (PS they are both veterinarians.)

So for this most recent weekend away we made a meal instead for them to enjoy together on the couch after a long day of saving animals: white lasagna with prosciutto and mushrooms, a good bottle of wine, and lime mousse tarts. These little buggers turned out so delicious we had to keep some for ourselves. Lime mousse is one of my go-to’s for spring/summer entertaining and I’ve been itching to turn them into tarts. Although it is delightful on its own, the combination is truly exceptional and I may never be able to eat lime mousse again without the accompaniment of a flaky shell. Both are deceptively easy yet extremely delicious. They can be made a day ahead, which is perfect for summer dinner parties and BBQs.

I followed this recipe for the lime mousse and this recipe for the tart dough. Here’s how I put it all together:

1. Refrigerate the dough for approximately 30 minutes before rolling it out. Then, roll it out to 1/8″ thickness. Place a mini tart pan on the dough and cut a circle that is about 1/2″ wider than the pan.

2. Prepare the mini tart pans with butter and flour. It can be tricky to get the dough out of them otherwise.

3. Place the cut out dough into the mini tart pan and push into its form. Put parchment paper in the center and place pie weights on the paper. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

4. Make the lime mousse while the dough is cooling. The only change I made to the recipe was adding a step: before setting the lime mixture in the ice bath I poured it through a fine mesh sieve to collect the larger pieces of egg. It does also collect some of the lime zest, but not enough to really decrease the flavor.

5. Once the tart dough is cooled and the lime mousse is ready (do not let the lime mousse sit or refrigerate before this step), spoon a few heaping spoonfuls of mousse into the tart shell. Then swirl it around so it looks pretty!

6. Place the tarts on a cookie sheet and put in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight (put in a container or cover if it will be overnight).

7. Enjoy!