Shortbread Tarts with Meyer Lemon Curd
Although it hasn’t felt like winter for a long time around here (sorry, Toronto), Meyer lemons can still be found – there’s still time. Those yellow-orange, smooth-skinned lemons that came to be out of the union of a regular lemon and mandarin are milder, smoother, less harsh than a traditional lemon – but if there are none to be found, any old lemon will do. (And will in fact give your curd more pucker, if that’s what you’re after.)
There is something nostalgic about a tiny lemon tart, even if you haven’t grown up with them, nor have a grandma who happened to make lemon curd. They feel like they should go with afternoon tea parties and tiny silver spoons, and yet that’s an occasion I rarely take part in, all the men in my life even less so, and yet they tend to be the ones to dive into a plate of lemon tarts as if they haven’t eaten in a week.
And even though citrus is in season over the winter, lemon tastes springy – like sunshine and fresh things. A saucepan of lemon curd is a good thing to know how to make, and once you do you’ll find all sorts of uses for it. These tiny, buttery-sweet shortbread shells are a classic vehicle – they contrast well with the tartness of the filling, which you need only a tiny spoonful of, and are so delicate they hardly require chewing.
These are plain and unfancy, and I kind of like that about them; use a thin knife to release them from the pan – and in summer, if you want to dress them up a bit, top each with a fresh blackberry or raspberry.
Shortbread Tarts with Meyer Lemon Curd
AuthorJulie
To make the shortbread shells, preheat the oven to 350?F. In a bowl (or the bowl of a food processor), combine the flour, sugar and salt; add the butter and blend (or blitz) until well combined and crumbly. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of mini muffin tins and bake for 8 minutes, or until pale golden.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring often (if not constantly) with a whisk, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Set aside to cool slightly, then spoon into shells.
Makes about 3 dozen tarts.
Ingredients
Directions
To make the shortbread shells, preheat the oven to 350?F. In a bowl (or the bowl of a food processor), combine the flour, sugar and salt; add the butter and blend (or blitz) until well combined and crumbly. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of mini muffin tins and bake for 8 minutes, or until pale golden.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring often (if not constantly) with a whisk, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Set aside to cool slightly, then spoon into shells.
Makes about 3 dozen tarts.
These tarts are gorgeous.
Julie, I love everything about this post.
I was able to hop over to your blog (which I check daily anyhow) from FB (which I check somewhat more often).
I love reading your words, and always look forward to a blog post: it’s genius to tag this off FB, so you’re maintaining/ updating both.
Noticing things about your new website which I hadn’t noticed before (not that they weren’t there necessarily: just that I didn’t notice them!):
-“previous post [easy to find, and that’s what I’m usually checking]”;
-“you may also like” gives me the most recent, on your home page [and updates if I click on a recipe, so I find related ideas for salads, or granola, or what have you].
-Your instagram feed is not intrusive but right up there. It’s like you’ve got things on your webpage beckoning, but not demanding.
-Visual table of contents on the side, again makes it easy for users to navigate.
-in the archives is still there, and I can dig back to some older stuff I loved as well.
Julie, thank you for hosting this website. I so enjoy, appreciate, and lean on it. I love the recipes, but also the personality that comes through in every post.
Thank you SO much for your feedback Carol! I know you’ve been around awhile and know the place well :). Your input is invaluable! xo
My granny loves British lemon curd and these look wonderful 🙂 Looks like a really homely and refreshing treat! 😀 Thanks for the recipe! x
I jumped right on these and what a disaster. Well, maybe not quite a disaster, but I could sure use some figuring out what went wrong. The Lemon Curd is easy to make and delicious. But the shortbread crumbs were hard to press into the cups, messy and time-consuming and then they kind of melted down in the baking and stuck to the tin, and when I pried them out, they fell into pieces. So I added a little water to the remaining crumbs and rolled them out. I used a glass to cut out rounds and fitted them into the cups, but they also melted down into puffs of crust with a small depression. I followed the recipe but there is just not enough instructions for me. What went wrong?
Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear it! I should have said the pastry is crumbly when you press it in – it’s a formula from the original Best of Bridge ladies, and when they made it at a class at Christmas I was surprised, but the finished result was so delicious.. I don’t know why they’d stick to the tin with all that butter! They are very fragile though, I lost a few before I got the hang of taking them out! So sorry about that!
i tried this today and had similar problems that Peggy had. More crumbs stuck to my fingers than in the muffin cups, and what ended in the muffin cups ended up kind of melted. Once it went into the oven, the little cups ended up boiling up. I never got them to brown, never mind being more sturdy than thick oatmeal.
Oh no, sorry to hear it! They were finicky when we did them in a class last Christmas, but they turned out so beautifully and everyone loved them so much that I thought they were worth sharing!
I have just made these little beauties and they are delicious . So easy to make . I had no problems with the pastry and it is lovely and short. I’ve eaten 3 already …..yum . Thank you for sharing this recipe.
So glad to hear it!
I ran out of lemon curd on my second batch of tarts and used Nutella. They were delicious!
I loved this recipe but also the crust was really crumbly…. I think the flour and butter ratio is off. In all the times I make shortbread it is a heavier dough… also, the sugar was always powdered… but, they are so good you almost don’t care of the mess, but makes it sharing them to be a challenge…
Yes, it is very crumbly.. you press it into the tart pans!