Lemon & Strawberry Curd Tarts

Elegantly smooth and buttery…sweet w/a lemon sparkle. Stars on the dessert table.

The Queen of Hearts has nothing over you, once you've made these tarts! In a cookie-like sablee crust, berries of the season and the sharp bite of lemon, you'll have to watch to make sure the Knave of Hearts doesn't steal them clean away! Put at least two aside for yourself and the King to keep order in your castle.

Curds using various citrus and as well as other fruits are popular in desserts and particularly lush and elegant due to the high butter content. Not a good choice for calorie counters, not a good choice for the baker feeling faint of heart, but when all the baking stars aline they are a masterpiece of pastry art!

lemon & strawberry curd tarts

TART SHELLS (Pate Sablee - French term which means “sandy pastry”)

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp.

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tablespoon cream or milk, if needed

-Beat the butter and powdered sugar in a mixer until creamy. Beat in the egg yolk. Keep mixing until the egg yolk is fully combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

-Add the flour and salt with the mixer on low speed just until the dough comes together and there is no more visible flour. Do not overmix. (The dough should be able to be pressed together between your fingertips and hold together. If the dough is too dry, lightly mix in up to 1 tablespoon cream or milk.)

-Pour the mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and gather the dough together, pressing into a round disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

-When ready to roll, remove dough from fridge and let soften on the counter for about 20 - 30 minutes or until it is cool to the touch but starting to feel pliable. Roll the dough out as thinly as possible without breaking between two pieces of wax paper, sprayed lightly with baking spray. Cut into round circle 1 inch wider than the diameter of your mini tart pans. (You may have to clump leftover dough back together and roll a second time to be able to make enough tart shells (makes 6 - 8 shells depending on the size of your mini tart pans or muffin pan cups.)

-Transfer the dough to the tart pans by cutting the wax paper around each shell, peeling off the top layer of wax paper and inverting into each tart pan. Gently lift the edges and press the dough down into the shape of the pan. Carefully tamp the dough down to fit snuggly in the pans using your fingers or a tart tamper. Trim the edges by running a small knife around the top edge of the pan. Cover tart pans loosely with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

-Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Blind-bake the tarts by lining the chilled shells with parchment paper or foil. Fill the inside with pie weights or dry beans such as pinto or kidney beans and bake until the edges just begin to brown, about 30 minutes. Remove the pie weights. (When using a filling that does not require baking, you must bake the crust completely first. The pie weights (beans) help keep the crust from shrinking or puffing up.)

Press and tamp crust into tart tins or large muffin cups.

Blind bake: Fill unbaked shells with parchment paper and dry beans.

TART FILLING: (Lemon Curd)

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed

-In a 2 quart saucepan, combine lemon juice, lemon
zest, sugar, eggs and butter. Cook over medium-low
heat, whisking frequently until mixture thickens
enough to hold marks from whisk and first boil bubble
appears on the surface - about 6 minutes. Remove
from heat and place in a jar or bowl, cover with
plastic wrap and chill until ready to use.

TART FILLING (Strawberry Curd)
Follow same recipe for Lemon Curd, but use 3/4 cups
fresh strawberry puree instead of lemon juice.

TO ASSEMBLE:
-Fill tart shells 1/3 full with strawberry curd. Spread
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon curd over the strawberry curd
layer. Fill the rest of the shell with another layer of
strawberry curd.

-Pipe sweetened whipped cream around the edges of
the tart in a decorative pattern, (I add about 1/4 cup of
leftover strawberry curd to the cream at the end of
beating it for more strawberry flavor and a pink
color.) Then place a strawberry half and a sliver of
lemon in the middle. Chill completed tarts several hours
until ready to serve.

Strawberry curd with a lemon curd surprise center in a melt-in-your-mouth sablee crust.

PERSNICKETY NOTES:

**I use my large muffin cups tray to make my tarts rather than tart pans.
Either way is fine but the smooth sides the muffin cups provide are perhaps easier than the fluted sides of the tart tins. And the muffin cups hold more filling!

**To make strawberry puree, place 1 cup fresh strawberries with stems
removed in blender or food processor until smooth.

**Not-quite-as-good SHORTCUTS! If in a hurry or just don't want to make
everything yourself there are a couple of good substitutes:
-Use a store-bought lemon curd. Dickinsons' brand is a good one.
-If making the sablee crust sounds like more than you would like to
take on, purchase pre-made pie crust from the freezer section and
roll out for the pastry shells as described in the recipe above. (Trader
Joe's and Pillsbury make frozen dough that you can roll out.)
-This recipe can also be made into one large 9 inch tart, which makes it
faster and easier to assemble.

**The pate sablee is so wonderful you must make a point of trying it one day when you have the time to bake and want to create a tart crust as the
European's do!

**Easy on the lemon curd! The bright, vibrant lemon flavor will overpower any other berry curd it is paired with so be sure to add just enough lemon curd in the middle of the tart. The amount listed in the recipe ensures you will still be able to taste the much more delicate flavor of the strawberry as well.