Lemon Curd Tarts (Vegan)
These lemon curd tarts have a lightly zested shortbread crust, a tart yet sweet curd filling, and a lightly curd-flavored whip cream topping. They are tart and sweet all at the same time. A single-serve, dairy-free, egg-free irresistible little tart.
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1¼ cups / 150 grams all purpose flour
- ¼ cup / 40 grams coconut sugar
- 7½ tbsp / 106 grams plant based butter with salt (cut into cubes and set aside to reach room temperature)
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Lemon Curd
- 6 tbsp / 90 grams plant based milk
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 2½ tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- ¾ cup / 150 grams cane sugar
Whipped Cream
- ½ cup plant based heavy cream (needs to be cold)
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon curd
- ⅛ tsp cream of tartar
Instructions
Lemon Curd
- To a medium pot add all the ingredients ( lemon juice, lemon zest, cane sugar, cornstarch and milk). Whisk well to incorporate all the ingredients. Heat the mixture over medium/medium low heat until it starts slightly bubbling and thickens. This took about 10 minutes. The consistency was just thick enough to cling to a spoon. Pour the curd into a heat safe container and set aside to cool to room temperature. If making the curd ahead of time, store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.Side note: be careful with the cook time, I added more cornstarch in this recipe because I wanted a thicker curd, it can easily be on the heat for too long and become too thick.
Shortbread Crust
- The tart tins I used are 4 inches across the top, 3 inch bottoms and 1.25 inches tall and have removeable bottoms. Any tin will be fine, make adjustments as needed for your particular tins.
- In a medium bowl add the flour, lemon zest and sugar; whisk to combine. Add the room temperature butter and cut it in until a sandy consistency is achieved. I used a pastry cutter to do this. You can also do this with your hands, a couple of knives or a food processor. Once a sandy consistency is reached, bring the dough together with your hands and form it into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease your tart tins. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Take one of the pieces and roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch thickness. Cut out 2 3-inch rounds for the bottom of 2 of the tins. ( if your tins are a different size, cut out the appropriate size for your tin). Use the rest of the dough to cut strips to line the edges of the 2 tins. Repeat these steps with the other half of the dough. You should end up with 4 tarts. Poke the bottoms of the tarts with a fork, place them in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Once out of the oven, let them cool and then remove them from the tins.
Whipped Cream
- To the bowl of a stand mixer add the heavy cream and cream of tartar and whip on high with a balloon whisk attachment for 2 minutes. Make sure the heavy cream is cold ( straight from the refrigerator). Add the powdered sugar and whip on high for another 2 minutes. Add the lemon curd and whip on high for another 30 seconds to a minute. We want it to be stiff enough to hold its shape.
Tart Assembly
- To each tart crust add 3 tablespoons of lemon curd. To the top of the curd add the whipped cream. I dolloped about 3 spoonfuls of the whip cream on each tart. For a final look, a little lemon zest can be sprinkled on top of the whipped cream. The crust and curd can be made ahead of time, I suggest making the whipped cream same day. I suggest assembling the tarts same day and keeping them in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.Side note: I had just enough lemon curd for the 4 tarts and what was used in the whipped cream and I had just enough whipped cream for the 4 tarts.