Last week I received a generous box of beautiful limes from Brazilian Limes. I love citrus in general, and limes in particular. They make me think of summer, holidays, cocktails and fun. Given we are at the moment in the coldest of winter and the nights are long and dark, cocktails aren’t really in my mind. Instead, I thought of adapting a recipe that uses lemon and give it a go with these sweet, juicy limes. As I read on the press sheet, limes from Brazil are lighter green in colour, seedless and are easy to juice given their thinner skin. 

Years ago, during my very first holiday on my own (here in the UK, of all places) I stayed with a family and ate quite bland food (spagh bol, anyone?) apart from a lovely pudding for which I even asked the recipe. It was a success back in Italy and my uni friends loved it. One of them even nicknamed it ‘torta Brioschi‘ given the crumbly base and tart flavour (Brioschi is a fizzy, powdery digestive). 

It works with limes too, and even if nothing out of the ordinary, is a very easy to make, freshly tasting, tart.

Lime Tart, London Road inspired

4 juicy Brazilian limes
250gr condensed milk
250gr double cream
Zest of two limes

2/3 packet of granary digestive biscuits
100gr sugar 
50gr melted butter
a few drops of vanilla essence

To make the base, crumb the biscuit in a blender, leaving some coarser crumbs for texture. Mix with the sugar, melted butter, the vanilla and then flatten on the base of a 25cm tin (I used a spring clip for ease of use), ensuring you leave the edges higher (around 2cm).

Place in a pre-heated over (170c, fan) for 10 minutes, or until it beging to brown, then remove and leave to cool.

To make the filling, mix the condensed milk and the cream in a bowl and whisk together. Add the grated lime zest, mix well and just before you are ready to pour on the cooled base, add the juice of the limes. Mix well and finally pour over the base (careful as it crumbles!), using a small spatula to make the top flat. By now, the mix will have tickened up.