Key Lime Coconut Parfaits
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Usually, with any key lime recipe, I am a naturalist. I don’t believe in adding green food coloring to the recipe. I stick with that natural pale yellow color. However, I decided for my St. Patrick’s GREEN week, to throw that notion out the window. The rest of this week’s recipes will all involve lime on some level. They will also involve using something to help get that green color. Today, we have some simple key lime coconut parfaits.
This delicious dessert is layered with graham cracker crumbs, whipped cream, and a lime coconut pudding mixture made from scratch. The pudding mixture actually comes together quickly and is easy to make as long as you follow the directions exactly.
One thing I do think that would be a great addition for the next time is some toasted coconut. I love the graham cracker in the parfait, but the get soft after the 2 hours of refrigeration needed for the recipe. I think the addition of the toasted coconut would carry the coconut flavor more and give the parfait some added texture. If you choose to do so, just add some on top of the graham cracker layer. I also think a little sprinkled on top would also be good.
Key Lime Coconut Parfaits
Real Mom Kitchen
Ingredients
- 2 cups of water
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 5 egg yolks
- ¾ cup key lime juice
- 1 Tbsp coconut extract
- 5 or so drops of green food coloring
- 1 ½ cups whipping cream
- 3 heaping Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 sleeve graham crackers coarsely crushed (that is 9 full graham cracker) sheets
Instructions
- Place water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
- While the water sits, place the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
- Place the sugar and cornstarch in a bowl and whisk together.
- Add the sugar/cornstarch mixture to the water. Whisk until well blended. Pace over medium heat and whisk constantly until thick like pudding.
- Remove from the heat and add a couple spoonfuls of the mixture to the egg yolks that are set aside and whisk together. Add a couple more spoonfuls to the eggs and whisk again. This will temper the eggs so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.
- Add the egg mixture to the remaining pudding mixture and whisk together.
- Then whisk in the lime juice, coconut extract, and food coloring. Add enough for coloring to get a nice shade of green. Set aside.
- Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla to the whipping cream and mix until well blended.
- Give the lime pudding a whisk again before layering in the dishes.
- In 5 mini trifle dishes or other similar dishes, layer graham crackers, cream, and lime pudding. Repeat layers leaving some whipping cream to top the parfaits and a little graham cracker to sprinkle on top also.
- Pipe or spoon whipping cream on top and sprinkle with a little graham cracker. Refrigerate for 2 hours and serve.
