These lemon curd tarts are very easy to make and the nature of the recipe means that you can make the individual components in advance and then they take no time to assemble and bake.
The whipped white chocolate ganache is very temperamental, so don’t over whip it like I did. I left my stand mixer beating this wonderful glossy ganache to look for the correct piping nozzle and when I turned back round, it looked like I had butter!
If this happens to you, take a cup of the ganache out of the mixer and put it on the heat in a saucepan and stir it over a gentle heat. Don’t let it boil, but let the mixture come together again. Pour the melted ganache back into the split ganache and continue to whisk the ganache until it comes back together and is a whipped ganache again.
If you find that the above doesn’t work, then I’m afraid you will probably need to throw the ganache away and start again.
Another thing to note is that you will probably have more curd than you need for the tarts, but lemon curd is delicious and in a sterilised jar it should keep for at least a week.
Lastly, this ganache is very loose as you have a 2:1 ratio of cream to chocolate. This is what you need to whip the ganache though and it will set in the fridge overnight, so please don’t be tempted to add more chocolate.
The whipped ganache recipe is adapted from a recipe by Antonio Bachour and the lemon curd tarts are adapted from a couple of William Curley books, both his Nostalgic Delights and Patisserie.
Lemon Curd Tarts with Whipped White Chocolate Ganache
Equipment
- 2 x 12 hole tart tins with a 6cm x 1.5cm cavity
- 7 cm cookie cutter
- Closed star pastry nozzle
Ingredients
- ***Lemon Curd***
- 200 ml Lemon Juice
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
- 450 g Whole Eggs
- 160 g Caster Sugar
- 170 g Unsalted Butter Softened and cubed
- ***Pate Sable***
- 250 g Plain Flour
- 1 pinch Salt
- 100 g Icing Sugar Sifted
- 175 g Unsalted Butter Cold and cubed
- 15 g Egg Yolk about 1 Egg
- ***Whipped White Chocolate Ganache***
- 300 ml Whipping Cream
- 10 g Runny Honey
- 10 g Liquid Glucose
- 150 g Guittard White Chocolate, Creme Francais
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
Instructions
- First start by making the lemon curd, put the lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, but don't let it cool too much.
- Combine the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until pale. Add half the lemon juice and whisk quickly so that you don't cook the eggs. When this is completely combined return it to the saucepan and cook a low heat.
- Continue to whisk the curd until it thickens about 5 minutes, make sure that it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.
- Sieve the curd into a bowl and then slowly add the butter piece by piece, stirring until it is completely melted and combined in the curd. Place a layer of clingfilm on top of the curd to create a seal and place in the fridge. This can be made up to 4 days in advance.
- Next make the pastry, place the flour, salt and icing in a large bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the beater attachment and mix together gently to combine.
- Add the cubed butter to the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed until no large lumps of butter remain and it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Then add the egg yolk and vanilla bean extract until the mixture starts to come together. Then stop mixing and combine the pastry together by hand.When the pastry has come together put it on a layer of cling-film and flatten into a rectangle and then wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours. This can be made 1 day in advance or frozen for up to a month.
- Next make the white chocolate ganache, heat the cream, honey, liquid glucose and vanilla in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until completely melted. The ganache will be quite runny, but this is fine. Cover with a layer of clingfilm pressed onto the surface of the ganache and leave it to chill overnight in the fridge.
- The next day take the ganache and place it in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the ganache until it is whipped and light. Be careful not to overwhip the ganache or it will separate.
- Place the whipped ganache into a pastry bag with a closed star pastry nozzle.
- Roll out the pastry onto a lightly floured work surface until it is 2.5mm thick. Cut out 7cm circles and use them to line the two 12 hole tins. You'll probably find you have enough pastry to make 30 tarts once you have combined all the scraps.
- Place the tins in the fridge to chill for 30 mins and pre-heat the oven to 180C Fan.
- Take the tins from the fridge and fill the tarts with lemon curd until they are just full, you don't want them to overflow. A heaped dessert spoon is usually enough curd for each tart.
- Bake the tarts for 12-15 mins, until the curd begins to bubble. Leave in the tin to cool and then transfer to a cooling rack.
- When the tarts are completely cool, pipe a blob of white chocolate ganache on top of each tart. Place the tarts in the fridge to set, before serving. These keep for 2-3 days in the fridge.
Thanks for reading.
Angela
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