Hello Everyone! Spring is here, and so are th0se “April Showers.” I don’t know a better way to enjoy a rainy day than in the kitchen. A few years ago my family and I took a magnificent trip to Europe. Throughout our journey we ended up spending a morning wandering around on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy. There I saw the biggest lemons I have ever seen to date. From then on, whenever I see a lemon I always think of that morning. Lately I have been perusing around social media for some recipe inspiration, a few days ago I saw about seven or eight recipes with lemon as the star of the show. I made up my mind that the next dessert I would make would be lemon tarts. Added bonus was that then I could use the leftover dough in the freezer from my floral spring tarts I made a couple weeks ago.
All Recipes’ Lemon Butter Tart recipe was the inspiration for my Lil’ Lemon Tartlets, I did of course make a few alterations of my own to the recipe. Here’s how I made them:
First off my Grandma gave me these super cute little tartlet molds, so rather than a traditional tart mold I used those. Then I of course used the leftover gluten free pie crust dough that had been in my freezer. I rolled it out and placed it in my little molds, that I had sprayed generously with non-stick spray. From here I par-baked them at 350 degrees fahrenheit until they were just lightly tanned (about 9-ish minutes).
While those were in the oven I got as much of the lemon curd done as possible. I whisked three eggs and two egg yolks thoroughly. I combined them in a saucepan with 1/2 cup butter, 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, 3 teaspoons lemon zest, and 1 1/4 cup sugar. I put this all on low heat and stirred constantly until it was thick. After the curd was finished I set it in the fridge to cool, while it cooled I took the tartlet crusts out of the molds. I then placed them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. After this I made the meringue topping. For this I whipped up 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup white sugar, and a generous dash of cream of tartar. I use cream of tartar in my meringues to make sure they have stiff peaks that can withstand piping.
Once the lemon curd had chilled I piped the curd into the individual tartlets. Next I piped the meringue on top of each tartlet covering them completely. I then put them in the oven and baked them at 350 degrees until the meringues were a very light brown (about 7 min). Once they cooled completely I brought some over to my neighbors who share a love of lemon desserts. These turned out great, and I am so excited to make them again. If you have any questions, as always, please feel free to reach out.
Until next time,
Brynn
