Gingerbread Man Shaped Nutella Snacks

I had leftover refrigerated pie crust from Thanksgiving. I have no plans for pie in the immediate future. And frankly, if I make a pie I need to get busy with my Martha Stewart quest and bake hers complete with *cough*homemade*cough* crusts. So what to do with this crust? I decided to try and make a treat for the kids after dinner. I grabbed the dough, the Nutella and my gingerbread man cookie cutter.

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Baking Martha's Key Lime Tart

This adventure in baking my way through Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook is brought to you courtesy of my friend's pick on facebook. His random page selection was for Key Lime Tart with Candied Key Lime Slices, how fancy sounding. 

My introduction to key lime dessert is not nearly as fancy. It all began one late night when I was sixteen and first tasted key lime pie at the local Denny's. My young, inexperienced, very finicky palate was hooked on that bright green, creamy concoction from the first forkful. Did you know you could buy a whole pie from Denny's? You can. And I did. Often. I even took them to parties. I was seriously obsessed with that pie. It wasn't until a few years later that I came to understand all key lime pie was not like Denny's. Or that it wasn't even supposed to be green. Or that some people prefer it with *gasp* meringue! The horror! As I matured in age and taste buds I began to appreciate real key lime pie. It is one of my favorites. My man likes to bring me home slices from all over town if he's at a late business dinner. I've not been in a Denny's but once in the twelve years I've been a vegetarian. I'm not even sure if my first pie love is still in the frosty dessert case. 

I'm going to admit I'm not a pie baker. It's the crust that gives me heart palpitations. So I was happy this wasn't a pie but a tart so I wouldn't have to fuss with dough. However, after I read the recipe I realized Martha did want me to make my own homemade graham crust from a DOUGH! What? I considered it. But after frustration finding another rare ingredient not clearly labeled such. *deep, calming breath* I nixed Martha's suggested crust. I rationalized this was acceptable change since I will still have to make the Graham dough when I bake the homemade Graham Crackers in the Baking Handbook on page 90. Now what crust should I do? A google search led me to this pretty blog for the same recipe but a different crust. I used hers and I was very pleased. This was such a brilliant crust for key lime pie. The addition of key lime zest is inspired. Thank you, Evan, whoever you are. 

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