Bakery-style Lemon Tarts made right at home. Individual shortcrust tart shells, filled with this perfect lemon curd recipe. Smooth, luscious, and the right sweet and tart balance.
This easy lemon curd tart recipe is a great fancy little dessert. Bonus, you can make the components ahead of time. Perfect for parties.
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I can eat lemon curd by the spoonful. Have you tried using it to make a lemon parfait? The perfect summer dessert for patio parties.
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I just had to squeeze out one more delicious lemon dessert just in time for spring. However, I will be serving these lemon tartlets all summer long (probably all year long). They will be the perfect dessert for our first bbq party of the summer.
RECIPE and INSTRUCTIONS for these lemon curd tartlets can be found at the bottom of this post.
If you love bakery-quality tarts, you are in luck. I will show you how easy it is to make them right at home.
The perfect dessert to take to a potluck. Everything can be made ahead of time. You can fill the tarts just before serving.
Shortcrust For Tart Shells
These are super easy to make. Flaky, tender, and light. Be sure to read the suggestions/recipe tips in case you are not into making your own pastry.
- It only takes 4 ingredients, flour, salt, butter, and water. This really is super easy to make. See the recipe card for all the detailed instructions.
- Made using a food processor or by hand the old-fashioned way.
- Let the pastry chill before rolling.
- Once the pastry is ready, roll it out to about ⅛ inch thickness.
- Use a round cooking cutter to cut out the discs.
- Place in tart tins.
- Fill with some pie weights and blind bake until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
Easy Lemon Tarts With Lemon Curd
Grab your favourite jar of lemon curd. It really does make the most delicious tart filling.
- Fill the cooled tart shells with as much curd filling as you like.
- Garnish with some fresh berries.
- ENJOY!
Who would have thought making lemon tarts from a jar of lemon curd would be so easy and so delicious. Bakery perfection right here.
Suggestion/Recipe Tips
Lemon Curd – Use homemade or store-bought. Fill the tarts as much as you like. You can also use any fruit curd you like.
Shortcrust – So easy to make. If you are not into making pastry, store-bought frozen tart shells will work for this recipe. Blind bake according to package directions.
Cookie Cutters – The size of the cookie cutter is determined by the size of the tart pan.
Pie Weights – I lined the shells with discs of parchment and used pie weights. Rice, lentils, or dry beans make great alternatives.
Tart Tin – For this recipe, I used a 4 tartlet pan. You can also use a standard muffin tin for smaller tarts. Use this affiliate link to find the perfect tart pan.
Garnish – Fresh berries work great. Strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries.
Storage – Always store extra tarts in the fridge until ready to serve.
Make-Ahead Prep – The tart shells can be baked ahead of time. They will keep for 2-3 days in a sealed container. Homemade curd will last for at least a week in a jar kept in the fridge. Store-bought curd has a long shelf life.
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Tart And Pastry FAQ
Yes since these are filled, the pastry needs to be baked first.
Absolutely. The pastry dough will last for several days wrapped in the fridge. You can also freeze it for several months. Thaw in the fridge before using.
Sweet pastry uses room temperature butter that is creamed with the sugar, flour, and eggs. Shortcrust uses cold butter and is only combined enough to form a sand-like consistency.
They are very similar. Curd usually has a stronger lemony taste.
Looking for more citrus recipes? Here are a few to try:
Be sure to look at all the dessert recipes on my site too.
Lemon Curd Tarts
Ingredients
For The Tarts:
- 1 cup lemon curd (homemade or store bought)
- fresh berries (for garnish)
For The Shortcrust:
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (cold, cubed)
- 2 tablespoons ice cold water
Instructions
Make The Shortcrust Pastry:
- Using a food processor, pulse flour and salt. ***See notes for hand mixing***1 ¼ cups all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt
- Add cubed butter and pulse until it resembles large flake oatmeal. You should still see chunks of butter.½ cup unsalted butter
- Add the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time. Pulse until the dough looks like sand. Do not overwork the dough.2 tablespoons ice cold water
- Remove dough from food processor. Knead slightly, form into a disc, wrap in plastic and chill for at least an hour.
To Make The Tart Shells:
- Preheat oven to 325ºF
- Remove pastry from fridge.
- Dust work surface with flour. Unwrap dough and place on your floured work area. Sprinkle the top with a bit of flour
- Using a rolling pin, roll the disc out to about ⅛ inch thick.
- Using a round cookie cutter, cut out circles.
- Place circles in tart tin.
Blind Bake The Shells:
- Line the shells with parchment paper and add some pie weights.
- Bake for about 15 minutes.
- Remove the tin from oven, carefully remove paper and weights. Return to the oven for additional 5 minutes until light golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool before removing from tin.
Filling The Tarts:
- In each shell add 2-3 tablespoons of lemon curd. Here is a great recipe for lemon curd.1 cup lemon curd
- Garnish with a few berries.fresh berries
- Serve.
Nutrition Information
Notes
- combine flour and salt in a large bowl.
- add the cubed cold butter and rub it together with fingers or a pastry cutter until it resembles large pieces of sand.
- add the cold ice water a tablespoon at a time until the dough just sticks together.
- proceed with the wrapping and chilling as directed in the recipe.
Natalie
What a beautiful lemon tarts. They look perfect. So delicious and drlicate. I love lemon flavored desserts so I’ll be definitely try this recipe.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
One of our favourite lemon desserts by far. ENJOY!
Ramona
These look super pretty and delicious and I will definitely be making these for dessert tonight! The lemon curd filling is just perfect and I cant wait to make this. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
You are very welcome. These lemon tarts are super easy to make and so delicious to eat.
Heidy
These Easy Lemon Tarts With Curd Filling were out of this world delicious! I never knew how easy they were to make and always used to buy them from the bakery. Well, no more after trying your recipe for Lemon Tarts With Curd Filling!!! Have a great day!!
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
Thanks so much Heidy, so glad you enjoyed this lemon tart recipe.
Jenny
Lemon tarts are my absolute favorite all-time dessert. Could not resist your recipe (again). As usual, they came out fantastic! I love how flavorful they came out. Thanks so much, Gloria for another great recipe.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
I have to make extra lemon curd so I have enough to make these tarts. I love eating it right off the spoon for a quick treat.
Veronika
I ended up using store-bought lemon curd which made these insanely easy to make! Anything lemon flavored is always my favorite for spring and these tarts didn’t disappoint- The whole family loved them!
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
Any curd will work in this easy tart recipe. So glad you enjoyed them.
veenaazmanov
One of my favorite and easiest dessert. So quick to make. I love the Lemon and curd combination. Yummy.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
Thanks so much. We love these lemon tarts too.
Sharon
These lemon tarts are the perfect individual treats that are perfect for Spring. The lemon curd is the perfect filling for the homemade crusts.
Gloria Duggan | Homemade & Yummy
I totally agree. I find it hard not to eat all the curd LOL.