I love lemon tartlets. The little size cakes that belong only to you and no one else but you. With a thin layer of pastry and zesty filling that I love to finish with hand whisked country whipping cream with almost no sugar. For me, making them is pure meditation. The whisking of lemon curd that miraculously turns from a yellowish liquid to smooth and silky cream. I love to roll those pastry shells – every one of them and baking until perfection. Every step is magical with tartlets au citron. It is a treat we do not make often and only when I get amazing lemons from a farm in Greece. Plus, if we have some leftover curd, we eat it with Sunday pancakes or waffles.

Ingredients

170 g wheat flour
30 g blanched almond flour or blended them yourself as finely as possible
40 g caster sugar
pinch of sea salt
140 g cold butter
1 egg yolk
1 tsp orange blossom water (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp water

lemon curd:
160ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 organic lemon zest, finely grated
170 g demerara sugar
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
seeds of half vanilla pod
190 g cold butter, in cubes (around 8 cubes)
pinch of sea salt

on top:
130 ml whipping cream
2 tbsp golden caster sugar
pinch of sea salt
a tiny bit of tonka or vanilla powder
berries if making in summer

Prepare

Pastry. Put the flour, nuts, sugar, and salt into a bowl. Grate the butter on a coarse grater into the flour. Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. You can also prepare the dough in a food processor with the fine blade – add all the ingredients and process on medium speed until crumbly. Add the egg with water, vanilla and orange blossom water and mix gently until dough is uniform – do not over-knead or the crust will be hard. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or even more. If you refrigerate longer, which is better, take out of the fridge 1 h before using.

Heat the oven to 200°. Take two sheets of baking paper, place the dough in the middle of one, lay other on top, and roll out slowly. The dough is very delicate. Place in a 23 - 25 cm tart form or 10 smaller (around 6-8 cm) forms, pressing in the sides and then trimming off the unnecessary dough. If using the small ones, place all of them on a bigger pan. Prick with a fork, place in the freezer for 30 minutes, take out, line with baking paper, and fill with baking beans. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for about 25 minutes for the large tart and 20 minutes for the small ones. Remove from oven, lift out the paper with beans, and return to the oven for 5 or 8 more minutes, depending on which you are making. Take out and cool completely.

Curd. Put about 5 cm of water in a pot and boil. Put lemon juice, zest, egg, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl that sits on the pot but doesn’t the water (or use a double-boiler). Do not let the water touch the bowl and lower the heat to medium-high. Whisk (or mix with a wooden spoon) for about 5‒7 minutes until it gets thicker and creamier. It will still be comparatively thin, but should not run. It should slowly slide off a spoon.

Take the bowl off the pot and while mixing, let it cool to body temperature (not cooler but not much hotter). Put in a free-standing blender or use a hand blender and add the butter cube by cube blending on medium-high speed. You can add the next cube of the butter only when the previous one has been mixed in thoroughly. When done, cover the surface of the cream with cling film, not just the rim of the bowl, and place in the fridge to cool until it is still runny but already firmer – that may take around 15 minutes. Or do as I do: I place the bowl into a bigger bowl filled with ice water and stir for 7 minutes.

Pour into the cooled tart shell or shells. If it is not too thick, it will spread itself evenly. Place in the fridge for a few hours. Decorate with whipped cream when set or just before serving. I like to add some lemon zest on top, but only if organic.

Recipe and pictures: Signe Meirane
Camera: Sony Alpha 7s

Lemon tartlets