Mini lemon tarts have a buttery and flakey crust, and a citrusy lemon center filling.
Pie crust is an excellent substitute of tart crust because it’s buttery and flakey.
Tart crust is more like a shortbread cookie, it’s harder, and doesn’t melt in your mouth like pie crust does. We will be using Pâte Sucrée as our pie crust dough for our tarts.
What is Pâte Sucrée
Pâte Sucrée is sweet French pastry crust which is traditionally used for tarts.
Pâte Sucrée is a bit different than regular pie crust because you have to chill it once to let it rest before rolling, and then again after you have put your dough in your pan just before baking it.
Pâte Sucrée is much more stable as a tart crust because it’s less likely to shrink and become deformed as it bakes. It’s much more reliable and keeps it shape as best it can while baking.
The trick is to push the pastry into the pan to make it “enfoncer”. This means to push the dough into the sides of the pan as much as you can, and make the pastry as even as you can without getting it too thin.
How to make mini lemon tarts with pie crust
Fill your mini lemon tarts made with pie crust using lemon cream. Lemon cream is much more fuller, and less tart than using lemon curd. Lemon cream is made by making custard, and then adding cubes of butter at the end for that delicious lemon cream flavor.
Once the mini lemon tarts have been set, add a couple of raspberries on top. Face the raspberries to the base of the raspberry sits on the lemon cream, and the tip of the raspberry is facing upwards.
Add a touch of piped white chocolate ganache to the top of the tart over the raspberries. Keep your white chocolate ganache tart with raspberries in the fridge for up to 3 days.
How to make tart filling
Tart filling is made by making custard.
You can fill tarts with any type of custard you like. F
or our mini lemon tarts with raspberries and white chocolate ganache, we are making lemon cream.
To make lemon cream, first prepare the lemon zest, sugar, lemon juice and whisk in the eggs.
Heat this over a double boiler until it’s thick frothy, continuously whisking the entire time to prevent the eggs from cooking.
Once it’s finished cooking, strain out the lemon zest and chill for a few hours before using this to fill your mini lemon tarts made with pie crust.
Learn how to fill your tarts with 23 types of tarts to make.
How to Assemble Mini Lemon Tarts with Pie Crust
- Make your white chocolate ganache. Store it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
- Make and bake your pie crust into mini tarts.
- Let them cool to room temperature. If you’re wanting the tarts to stay good for a few days, brush the crust with melted white chocolate and let the chocolate solidify.
- Make your lemon cream and pipe into the mini tarts.
- Chill for about 15-20 minutes.
- Add a couple of fresh raspberries on top of your mini lemon tarts.
- Pipe a little white chocolate ganache on top of the raspberries.
- Store your mini tarts in the fridge until you’re ready to serve them.
Pie Crust Tart Recipe
Materials
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup icing sugar
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter cubed, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Sift flour, icing sugar and almond flour. Measure out the required amounts into a stand mixer bowl. Add salt.
- Using the paddle attachment for your stand mixer, add the butter and mix on low until the mixture becomes a bit grainy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue mixing. Stop when the dough is just barely combined.
- Finish the dough by combining the remaining dry ingredients left in the bowl on the counter with your hands. Make 2 dough balls and cover them in plastic wrap. Chill for 2-3 hours.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it's 1/4'' in thickness. Grease your 8'' tart pans with butter. Place your rollout dough on the tart pan. Press the dough into the tart pan to make sure its secure. Cut the excess dough using a sharp knife. Place the dough in the fridge for 15 min. Pierce the dough with a fork, not all of the way through the dough. Make several fork dents in the dough. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bake your tart for 18 min. If you're making mini tarts, bake for 8-12 min. Remove and let cool. Brush the tart with melted white chocolate and let the chocolate solidify before filling your tart with the filling. This will prevent the tart shell from become soggy.
No Bake Lemon Tart Recipe
Materials
- 3 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 cup sugar granulated
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter cubed
Instructions
- Place lemon zest and sugar in a bowl and rub the 2 together to release the lemon flavor. Whisk in your eggs and lemon juice.
- Place mixture into a double boiler and cook on low. The mixture will become thick as you whisk it throughout the entire cooking process. Once it has thickened and becomes darker cook it for another 5 solid minutes. Whisk the mixture continuously.
- Strain the lemon zest out of the lemon cream by using a strainer or colander. Push the cream mixture through the strainer using the back of a spoon or a spatula.
- Whisk in cubed butter and mix until smooth.
- Cover and chill for 3-4 hours in the fridge.
- Remove the mixture from the fridge and mix it until it's softened up and smooth. Fill the tart shell with the lemon cream and chill it for 45 min. It's ready to serve, or store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
White Chocolate Ganache Filling Recipe
Materials
- 100 g heavy cream
- 180 g white chocolate wafers
Instructions
- Place heavy cream in a small saucepan on medium heat. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer, just before it starts to boil remove it from the heat source.
- Measure your white chocolate wafers into a heat proof bowl.
- Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate wafers.
- Gently stir with a spatula until all of the white chocolate is melted and becomes a smooth mixture.
- Let the white chocolate ganache sit until it's fully cooled to room temperature.
- Place the white chocolate ganache into the fridge until it's chilled (1 hour).
- Microwave the white chocolate ganache for your macarons in 10 second intervals until you've obtained the consistency you want for piping your macarons.
