Preheat the oven to 180˚C
Roll out the puff pastry to ½ a centremetre in thickness. Use a 4cm cookie cutter to cut out 12 rounds of puff pastry. Lightly grease muffin trays with some butter and sprinkle with sugar and then line with the puff pastry. Cover and place the trays in the fridge to allow the pastry to rest before baking in the oven.
To make the custard, heat the milk and cream in a saucepan until just before boiling. In a separate bowl mix the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together until pale and thick. Very slowly add the cream & milk to the eggs and stir to combine. Place the custard mixture back into the saucepan and over a very gentle heat stir the custard (do not whisk) until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the lime juice and the coconut and stir to combine.
Pour the custard mixture into the tart shells until almost to the top and place in the oven. Bake until the pastry is golden and the custard has set, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
To make the candied lime, mix the caster sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the lime zest and return the sugar syrup to a simmer. After 5 minutes with a small sieve remove the lime zest from the sugar syrup and blanch under cold running water. Return the lime zest back to the syrup and cook for another 5 minutes. Blanch again under cold running water and repeat until the lime zest is stiff and bright green in colour.
For serving, brown the coconut in a frying pan over a gentle heat and set aside. Top each tart with some candied lime zest and sprinkle with the toasted coconut.
Makes 24 tarts
