Mini Lemon and Cream Tarts

More so than any other occasion during the year, Valentines day is an essentially discriminatory holiday....against people who don't LOVE chocolate that is. It's also the only occasion, aside from birthdays or anniversaries that a couple is likely to splash out on a nice meal and a special restaurant. And so they should. Despite my misgivings bout the commercial roots of Valentines day, there's something really nice about celebrating your love and commitment to your partner with a beautiful meal and a nice bottle of wine. Who cares if everyone else is doing it too!

Unfortunately, for those of us who prefer to give chocolate a miss at the end of a meal, at this time of year every restaurant seems to haul out the triple chocolate mousse cakes and molten chocolate cakes and bitter chocolate tarts for dessert. What if you or your partner (like mine) are more of a fruit dessert kind of person? It'd be nice to have something special and decadent all your own don't you think? besides, after a rich meal and some gorgeous wine, chocolate might be a bit heavy, especially if you've got activities planned for later, if you know what I mean...

Why not save the desert for your return home? These gorgeous little lemon tarts are sweet and tangy and not cloying or heavy the way chocolate deserts can be. You can make them ahead of time and pull them out of the fridge when needed. The little mound of puffy cream on top and the brilliant red berries dress it up for the occasion very nicely. All the better if you've got a little bit of food grade glitter!

No need for a professional pastry chef either. If you're not keen on making the pastry yourself, buy some of those tiny pre-made tartlet shells, or pop pre-made pastry into a mini muffin tin. If you are keen to make your own pastry any shortcrust or patee sucree will do, bearing in mind that a patee sucree will result in a sweeter finished product. I used plain shortcrust (premade from the freezer section, gasp!).

This recipe makes about a dozen small tarts, or you could save the extra lemon curd to serve over angel food cake, fill a layer cake, plop on a Pavlova or dip fruit slices in. Or, if you live in my house, you might just keep it in a jar in the fridge and slowly (or quickly) eat it spoonful by spoonful over the course of a few days. This curd recipe is also more forgiving, easier and less rich than traditional curd recipes as it replaces some of the yolks with whole egg and cooks in less steps, but turns out beautifully creamy nonetheless. Also, because I have a very fine grater, sometimes I don't strain the zest out of the curd, but if your grater produces coarser zest, you may want to, just make sure you do it while your curd is quite hot.

Mini lemon and cream tartlets

• 12 blind-baked mini tart shells in a pan (you could blind bake these ahead of time and premake the filling and topping and then all you have to do is spend a few minutes assembling on the night!)
• 375 ml fresh lemon juice (or part lemon ad part lime)
• 4 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks plus 3 whole large eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, soft
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1.5 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• small punnet ripe raspberries
• food-grade glitter (available at cake decorating shops) or icing sugar for dusting.

Beat lemon juice, zest, sugar, and eggs together very well using an immersion blender, or standard blender on the highest setting.

Heat over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisking occasionally. When mixture starts to get hot, whisk in the butter. Continue whisking until mixture thickens significantly to the consistency of warm custard. Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove the larger bits of zest. Chill slightly by pressing cling wrap to the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

While curd is still warm, pour into tartlet shells. Save any extra in a jar in the fridge.

Refrigerate filled shells until curd is firm.

Whip the cream and vanilla sugar together.

Top each filled tart with a dollop of whipped cream and a few berries. Immediately before serving, dust with food grade glitter or icing sugar.

Enjoy the love!

Comments

[Claire]

These mini tarts must be absolutely scrumptious! And the picture is just yummy... Will try for sure :-)

[Brilynn]

THey look great! And while I'm not chocolate shy and any occasion for chocolate is a good one, these tarts look pretty appealing!

[Lisa (Homesick Texan)]

I adore lemon curd, but had no idea it was so easy to make. These look gorgeous!

[eva]

They look delicious !

[Lydia]

Lemon absolutely is the next best thing to chocolate, and these little tarts look lovely. At the end of a wonderful meal, who needs a big dessert anyway???

[barbichounette]

Tout comme toi, j'aime les mignardises !!!!
Bizzzzzzzzzzzz
Barbichounette

[connie]

while i am a chocoholic, i do like your idea of something lighter for dessert on such a chocolatey day

[Tess]

I'm wondering how these would be with CHOCOLATE tart shells?

[Catherine]

Great shot! Very sweet.

[Tartelette]

These are cute indeed but I bet they taste just as good as they look. I'd rather have lemon over chocolate on VDay also, I tend to get into a chocolate coma after the holidays.