Melt the butter and let it cool enough so that it does not scorch your fingers when you’re forming the crust. Grate the ginger into the cooled butter and mix.

This is easiest to do if you have a food processor. Just pop in the cookies and run the processor until they are powder.

However, if you either do not have a food processor or recently killed yours making chocolate avocado mousse, you can place your cookies in a ziplock baggie and whack at them with a spoon or water bottle until they are crushed. You need 2 and 1/2 cups of crushed gingersnaps.

Mix the gingersnap crumbs and sugar with the ginger butter mixture. Mix until the crumbs take on the texture of wet sand. Then dump the mixture into the tart mold and press it into the sides and bottom of the mold.

Place the tart mold onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. This serves two purposes. First, it will make it much easier to take the tart mold in and out of the oven without jostling the crust and risking breaking it. Second, if any butter leaks out, it will collect on the sheet pan and not the bottom of your oven.

While the crust bakes, zest the limes. (Make sure to zest before you juice! It’s HARD to zest a juiced lime.).

Beat the 4 egg yolks with the lime zest for 3 minutes using a stand mixer or whisk. The yolks should look a bit lighter and tinged with green afterward.

Mix in the condensed milk thoroughly.

Mix in the lime juice thoroughly. Let the mixture stand for 30 minutes. It will thicken up a bit during this resting period.

By now, the crust should be out of the oven and should have cooled slightly. Pour the filling into the warm tart crust. Pop it back into the oven to bake at 325F for 15 minutes.

The tart is done when the filling jiggles only slightly. Better to err on the side of underbaked if you’re unsure. The classic recipe for key lime pie does not involve any cooking at all!

Let the tart cool for about 45 minutes, then place it in the refrigerator to set, uncovered, for at least 3 hours.

I do this uncovered because, if you place plastic wrap over the top of the tart, there is a big risk that the wrap touches the surface. This will blemish the appearance of the tart. You can cover it up later with creative use of whipped cream, but why create problems? I’ve never had an issue with the top of the tart getting tough or dehydrated.

Mix the 1 tsp of gelatin powder with 1 tbsp of cool water. Heat the water in 10 second increments until the gelatin is completely dissolved, stirring between each increment. Let the mixture cool (but not until it congeals).

Whisk the whipping cream, vanilla, and sugar together until you get soft peaks. At this point, mix in the cooled gelatin mixture. Whisk until you get stiff peaks. You now have stabilized whipped cream!

Once the tart is fully chilled and set, fill a piping bag with the stabilized whipped cream, and decorate the tart however pleases you. See my note above regarding piping tips. I recommend using a small open star tip, not a closed star tip like I did for the, hem, masterful  pipework in this picture. Open star will look better.

Top the whipped cream with some additional lime zest for added pizzaz (and distraction from your whipped cream piping game, if poor like mine).

When ready to serve, pop the tart out of the tart pan by pushing up on the bottom insert. I usually focus on one side at a time. With all the butter in the crust, it should pop right out.