Something about lemons screams fresh, light, and clean. I am a sucker for citrus desserts especially those made with curd. Looking for a no fuss light summer dessert I stopped by the local farmers market for inspiration. Currently there is an abundance of fruit available. After running through the options in my mind, I decided to pick up some fresh raspberries and make a raspberry lemon curd tart.
Lemon Curd is English in origin and dates back to the early 1800’s. In doing a little digging, the earliest mention of the term lemon curd I have found goes back to 1844 in The Lady’s Own Cookery Book by Lady Charlotte Campbell Bury. The recipe is rather different though because the lemon curd is literally that; lemon acidulating cream to form curds which could then be separated from the whey through some cheesecloth.
You can go further back to find recipes for lemon curd, though it is called lemon cheese, and it seemed to generally be used for lemon cheese cakes which are what I would call nowadays lemon curd tarts. When you look in the books, the old recipes give the instruction to rasp the lemons’ skins “well with sugar” to extract the zest and aromatic oils. We’ve come a long way since then with the invention of zesters!
Now days, recipes call for the addition of eggs and butter, and it is considered more of a ‘velvety custard’ than a jam or jelly. In fact, it’s not curd or cheese-like at all. You can make fruit curds from just about any fruit that can be juiced (oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, limes, mango, berries) but the most common curds are Lemon and Passionfruit.
Curds can be used for so many things: cakes, tarts, pies, steamed puddings, muffins, as a pancake topping or filling, or at its best on hot toast or biscuit. Though I have always thought lemon curd ripple ice cream would be good. Here are a few ways I like to use lemon curd:
- Simply delicious slathered over biscuits or scones.
- Drizzle over Greek yogurt or a bowl of creamy vanilla ice-cream.
- Simplify your baking by using in cakes, tarts, pies, steamed puddings, loaves and fruit slices.
- Add to cream cheese to make a delicious frosting for your muffins and cupcakes.
- Make a delicious dessert parfait by layering crushed meringues, Greek yogurt and lemon curd. Or….replace the meringues with granola to turn it into a delicious breakfast parfait.
- Add a dollop to bread puddings to make take the flavor up a notch.
Lemon is such a fantastic color. The color becomes more vibrant if you use farm fresh eggs. I am fortunate enough to have a great connection to get my fresh eggs this time of year. Growing up, yellow was my mother’s favorite color. The gingham curtains and walls were this vibrant yellow. Every time I make curd, I think about sitting in my mother’s bright yellow and white kitchen.
Curds don’t just come in lemon yellow of course, you can make one from any fruit that the juice can be easily squeezed from: orange, grapefruit, passion fruit and pineapple are all ones I have spotted at one time or another.
Today’s dessert profile is summer all the way. These tartlets begin with a Keto friendly gluten free crust made with a mixture of almond flour and coconut flour filled with a silky sugar free lemon curd topped with raspberries garnished with mint leaves. The recipe is so simple you only need a hand full of ingredients. If you don’t feel like fussing with a crust, it’s good all by itself, just grab a spoon. Enjoy!
Keepin it Fresh!
Raspberry and Lemon Curd Tarts
- June 27, 2019
- 4
- 40 min
- 429 Cals/Serving
- Print this
Ingredients
- Low Carb Pie Crust
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract- eliminate for savory
- 1/4 cup Monkfruit sweetener -eliminate for savory
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup butter cold cut into cubes
- Lemon Curd
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (Approx. 4 Lemons)
- 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 yolks
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into bits
- Garnish
- Raspberries
- Mint
Directions
- Step 1
- For pie crust: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Step 2
- Whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla extract in a food processor or stand mixer.
- Step 3
- In another bowl whisk the remaining ingredients together until combined.
- Step 4
- Pour the dry and wet mixture into a food processor.
- Step 5
- Add the cubed butter.
- Step 6
- Process by pulsing until it looks like crumbles.
- Step 7
- Spray tart molds with cooking spray and pour crumbles into pie plate.
- Step 8
- Press with hands to form dough right in the pie plate. Alternately you can also roll out dough between two pieces of parchment paper. (I prefer to roll out my dough)
- Step 9
- Using a fork randomly make holes into the bottom of the crust.
- Step 10
- Bake the crust 10 minutes or until golden.
- Step 11
- Set aside to cool.
- Step 12
- Lemon Curd: Whisk together juice, zest, Monkfruit sweetener, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan.
- Step 13
- Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.
- Step 14
- Transfer lemon curd to pie crusts and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.
- Step 15
- Top tartlets with fresh raspberries and garnish with mint leaves.
