I think I’m getting lazy with my photography. If you haven’t noticed, my last four posts (including this one) have all looked pretty much the same. White background. Minimal props. Shallow depth of field.

But, it’s okay. I’m liking this. Before, I was spending too much money on props instead of on food and equipment. The props were too distracting. Making the backgrounds was too time-consuming. Now, with a clean white background and simple plates and utensils, the food really pops off the screen.

Nudging forks around to capture them from a perfect angle instead of improving my plating skills just doesn’t make sense. No more. This time, I snapped a photo in a couple of minutes and spent much more time decorating the tart. I think I’m going to stick with this minimalist photography style from now on. It worked for Smitten Kitchen, right?

Making these tarts was a lot of fun and quite easy. The almond tart dough was very forgiving. Whenever it tore, I just pressed some more dough into the tart moulds. The tart shells came out perfectly with a nice, crumbly texture.

To make round tarts with straight edges, I used round cookie cutters that I placed on a parchment paper-lined baking tray. Otherwise, if I had used fluted mini-tart pans, I would’ve ended up with, well, fluted mini-tarts.

The process to make straight-edged tarts is very simple: line a rectangular pan with parchment paper, put cookie cutters on top, and then drape dough over the cookie cutters as though they were mini tart pans. Straight edges are quite nice.

The key lime filling came together quickly because it just involved stirring together key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. If you don’t have key limes nearby, you can also use regular limes or lemons, or a mixture of all of the above (just don’t call it a key lime tart). I’ve made delightful lemon tartlets before (with lemons, duh) and they were almost the same as these. The consistency of the filling and the garnish were were a tad different though.

Topping these tarts with raspberries was, naturally, not difficult. I just put the raspberries on. I put raspberries on a lot of tarts, actually.

But, to make the key lime tarts shiny and keep the microgreen leaves stuck to them, I brushed on some neutral glaze. I don’t work with neutral glaze very often, but it’s a great way to keep berries shiny on top of cakes or tarts. Usually bakeries buy it pre-made in large buckets, but you can make it at home with only water, sugar, citrus juice, and pectin. If you’re one of those people who constantly needs to look in the mirror, making a neutral glaze and coating most everything with it might be a good idea.

Super simple. Super shiny. What else could you want in a tart? Oh yeah, they also taste amazing!