The lemon curd tartlets are delightful treats perfect as a dessert at the end of a meal or as a sweet accompaniment to a cup of tea.
Lemon curd, or lemon cheese, is a basic pastry preparation. It’s a delicate and fragrant lemon cream, ready in just 10 minutes, perfect for filling pies and cakes or spreading on toast for a snack, perhaps with a hot tea, just as the English tradition dictates.
These tartlets can also be prepared as a tart; the taste doesn’t change, but in the smaller version, I find them more suitable, as if they were small pastries. Everyone can choose their favorite garnish, and since one tartlet corresponds to a slice of cake, we don’t even feel too guilty.
Lemon desserts are one of my passions, and I’m sharing some perfect recipes for every season.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 8 tartlets
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: English
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 445.69 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 50.09 (g) of which sugars 29.21 (g)
- Proteins 7.35 (g)
- Fat 25.09 (g) of which saturated 15.23 (g)of which unsaturated 9.91 (g)
- Fibers 1.29 (g)
- Sodium 75.01 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 110 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for lemon curd tartlets
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs (small)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 lemons
- as needed berries
- meringues
Tools
- Tart Molds
Preparation of lemon curd tartlets
Put the flour, butter, and sugar in a bowl and quickly knead to form a crumbly mixture. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract. Mix quickly to form a smooth, homogeneous, and soft dough.
Flatten it slightly and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place it in the refrigerator to firm up for at least half an hour.
Meanwhile, prepare the lemon curd. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the juice of the two lemons and the sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Incorporate the eggs and stir with a whisk until the lemon curd thickens, it will take a few minutes. Pour the cream into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap in contact to prevent a surface skin from forming. Let it cool.
Roll out the pastry between two sheets of parchment paper to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. Line the molds. Mine are about 3 inches in diameter.
Prick the pastry and bake the shells in a preheated oven at 338°F for about 20 minutes. Once ready, take them out and let them cool completely.
Fill the tartlets with lemon curd and decorate with berries and small meringues.
Store the lemon curd tartlets in the refrigerator.
