Creamy Key Lime Curd Parfaits

The time-honored key lime pie combination of Graham crackers, tangy/sweet creamy key lime curd, and a swooping meringue made into individual parfaits. Seriously good. Seriously.

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1 10

Servings servings

Calories 575kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Ingredients

For the Key Lime Curd

1 cup key lime juice
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
4 egg yolks (reserve 2 whites for the meringue)
3 oz butter
3 oz sour cream (or creme fraiche)
3 oz white chocolate

For the Graham Cracker Crumbles

1.75 oz whole wheat or Graham flour (1/4 cup)
1.6 oz all purpose flour (1/4 cup)
3 Tablespoons brown sugar well, packed
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons honey
2 oz butter (1/2 stick)

For the Key Lime Swiss Meringue*

2 egg whites (reserved from making the curd)
½ cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon key lime juice
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

For the Lime Curd

Place the juice, sugar, eggs, and yolks in a medium, heavy-bottomed sauce pan and whisk well to combine.
Add the butter, sour cream or creme fraiche, and the white chocolate to a medium bowl. Put a fine mesh strainer over the bowl and set aside convenient to the stove.
Whisk the juice mixture over medium-high heat until it thickens. The juice will get very foamy as you whisk, and you will know it is ready when all the foam goes away and the mixture thickens. Do not allow the mixture to boil.
Immediately pour the thickened juice mixture through the fine mesh strainer. Press through with a spatula, if necessary.
Whisk until all the white chocolate and butter has melted and the curd is smooth and completely combined. Chill overnight.

For the Graham Crumbles

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a half sheet pan or other rimmed cookie sheet with Silpat or parchment. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Cut the butter into 8 pieces and add add it to the bowl. Add the honey.
Using clean hands, rub in the butter and honey to distribute it evenly. Be thorough. You want the dough to come together in little clumps and have the butter coat all the flour.**
Dump the crumbled dough onto the prepared pan and spread it out evenly.
Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden brown. The cookie crumbles will crisp as they cool. (Say that 5 times fast). Once cool, break them into small pebbles and pieces of crunchy cookie crumbles and store in an air-tight container for up to a week.

For the Swiss Meringue

Place all the meringue ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer (metal is best here).
Put about an inch of water in a pan the mixer bowl will fit into without touching the water. Put this whole shebang on the stove and turn the heat to medium-high.
Whisk the egg whites constantly. Once the water reaches a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a high simmer and continue whisking until the egg whites reach 165F.** The mixture will thin out as the sugar dissolves into the whites.
Place the bowl on your stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment and whip until completely cool and you have silky, shiny, sexy meringue that holds medium-stiff peaks that curl over just a bit when you hold the whisk upside down.
If not making parfaits immediately. Store the meringue in an airtight container in the freezer.
Remove from freezer about an hour before you want to assemble.

To Assemble and Serve

Layer the following into serving dishes or glasses. For the curd and the meringue, you can use a spoon or get fancy and use a piping bag. You won't need a pastry tip for the curd, but a star tip is a nice finish for the meringue

2 Tablespoons Graham crumbles***
1/4 cup key lime curd
2 Tablespoon Graham crumbles
1/4 cup key lime curd
Top with a dollop of Swiss meringue

Notes

To make sure the Graham crumbles stay nice and crunchy, assemble no more than an hour or two before serving. The parfaits will hold in the fridge overnight, but the Graham crumbles will soften up.

*If your mixer won't whip up 2 whites for the Meringue, double all the meringue ingredients. You may not use all of it, or you can just pile a lot on each parfait.

**Make sure the temperature gets up to 165-170F to ensure the whites are cooked and safe to eat without any further time in the oven.

***You may not use all of the Graham crumbles. Save them as ice cream toppings or just eat them like wee cookies. Or like cereal!

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