These Lemon Tartlets are creamy, lemon curd filled pastries that are totally a crowd-pleaser. Restaurant-style dessert perfect for holidays or special occasions.
– ▢1 ⅓ c flour – ▢2 teaspoon Maple syrup – ▢1 stick (½ c) vegan butter chilled – ▢4-5 tablespoon ice cold water – ▢¾ c almond milk – ▢½ c coconut cream – ▢5 tablespoon Maple syrup – ▢2 lemons juiced – ▢2 tablespoon lemon zest – ▢2 tablespoon cornstarch – ▢½ teaspoon agar powder – ▢½ teaspoon yellow food coloring – ▢3 tablespoon aquafaba – ▢7 tablespoon powdered sugar – ▢1 teaspoon lemon juice
1. In a bowl of food processor add flour, Maple syrup and vegan butter. Pulse on high for 5-6 times to break big chunks of butter. The mixture will be crumbly. With a motor running on low add water and process for 5-7 seconds until the dough starts to pull away from the walls.
2. Gather the dough into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Cover the dough with a plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Remove the dough from the fridge and discard the plastic wrap. Lightly sprinkle your working surface with some flour and roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick. Using a 6-inch cookie cutter cut out the dough circles.
4. Place the circles of dough into 5 tartlet molds. Press excess toward the outside edge. Use your fingers to press the pastry dough in the flutes and create an even edge all around. Prick a crust with a fork. This allows the steam to escape so that the tartlet shells don't puff up in the oven. Place the shells in a freezer for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Remove pastry shells from the freezer and bake for 30 minutes until the edges are golden brown.
6. Make a lemon curd by combining almond milk, coconut cream and Maple syrup in a medium pot. Bring to a gentle simmer stirring occasionally. Meanwhile in a small bowl whisk lemon juice, zest, cornstarch, agar powder and yellow food coloring
7. Add the mixture of lemon juice and agar to a pot with almond milk and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens and no lumps remain. As soon as the sauce starts to bubble, remove the pot from the heat.
8. Divide the lemon sauce among the tartlet shells and leave on the counter to set for about 1 hour. Then transfer to the fridge to cool for 2-3 hours.
9. Prepare the aquafaba meringue. Using a hand mixer, beat aquafaba and powdered sugar until soft peaks, 3 to 5 minutes. Add lemon juice and continue beating for 1 minute.
10. Fill a piping bag fitted with an open star pastry tip (#32) with a meringue and pipe small stars on each lemon tartlet. You can either fill out the whole area of a tartlet or pipe just in few spots. Using a kitchen blow torch, lightly caramelize the meringue tops.
The tartlets are ready to be served.