A few weeks back, I celebrated six years of living in the US. It's been six amazing, eventful years and I'm so happy to be able to call this country my home. In honor of both Independence Day, and my Americaversary, I thought something red, white and blue was in order.
These little tarts are so light, acidic, and summery. The shells are made out of a cookie almond crust, and are filled with a home made lemon curd, that has been mixed with mascarpone and crème fraiche. Lemon curd is easily one of my favorite fillings to use in cakes and tarts. Lemon, sugar and butter - what's not to love?
I had been wanting to use these mini tart molds for a while, but hadn't really known what to make with them. They used to be my Grandmother's, who was known for her amazing banana bread and seven kinds of cookies, and given to my mother, who then gave them to me. These, and my grandmother's midcentury coffee can in a bright pink, orange and purple pattern (think early flower power), are among my favorite things. But then again, so are baking and drinking coffee.
Okay, I'll be honest. It was a pain to get these crusts out of the shells. I did butter the molds before using them, as the recipe calls for, but still I had to run a small knife around the edges to loosen the cookies. If there's one thing I've learned about baking, it's patience, patience, and patience. At least I can say that it was worth all of the hard work!
Almond Tarts with Lemon Mascarpone Mousse
from the magazine Hembakat
100 g butter, room temp
68 g sugar
1 eggyolk
250 g flour
50 g almond flour
Filling
250 g mascarpone, room temp
200 g crème fraiche, room temp
200 g lemon curd, room temp
Garnish
½ pomegranate, seeds
1 tbs finely grated lemon peel
Instructions:
- Whip the butter and sugar until fluffy. Stirr in the egg yolk.
- Sift the flour and almond flour into the butter mixture. Sikta ned vetemjöl och mandelmjöl i smeten. Work it into a dough. Let the dough rest in the fridge for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 395°F. Coat the cookie molds with melted butter.
- Form the dough into a long roll and divide it into 20 pieces. Press the dough into the molds.
- Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes. Loosen the cookies from the molds while still warm.
- Filling: Whip together mascarpone, crème fraiche and lemon curd. It's important that they are at room temperature and that you don't whip it too hard.
- Fill the cookies with the mousse and decorate with pomegranate seeds and lemon peel before serving.
Lemon Curd
from Leila Lindholm
3 lemons
135 g sugar
50 g butter
1 tbsp. corn starch
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
Instructions:
- Wash and dry the lemons. Boil the lemon juice from two of the lemons and the rind from all three, together with the sugar and butter. Strain the liquid to get rid of the rind.
- Mix the corn starch with the lemon juice from the third lemon, and stir into the liquid.
- Whip the eggs and stir them in to the liquid. Put the saucepan back on the heat, and let it simmer until the lemon curd starts to thicken.
- Pour the lemon curd into a bowl, and let cool before refrigerating.
Mandelmusslor med Citronmousse
från tidningen Hembakat
100 g smör, rumsvarmt
¾ dl strösocker
1 äggula
2 ½ dl vetemjöl
50 g mandelmjöl
Fyllning
250 g mascarpone, rumsvarm
2 dl crème fraiche, rumsvarm
2 dl lemon curd, rumsvarm
Garnering
½ granatäpple, kärnorna
1 msk finrivet citronskal
Gör så här:
- Vispa smör och socker pösigt. Rör i äggulan.
- Sikta ned vetemjöl och mandelmjöl i smeten. Arbeta ihop till en deg. Låt degen vila i kylskåp i minst 1 tim.
- Sätt ugnen på 200 grader. Pensla 20 veckade mandelmusselformar med smält smör.
- Gör en rulle av degen och skär den i 20 bitar. Tryck ut bitarna i formarna.
- Grädda kakorna mitt i ugnen i ca 8 min. Lossa dem försiktigt medan de fortfarande är varma.
- Fyllning: Vispa försiktigt ihop mascarpone, crème fraiche och lemon curd. Det är viktigt att ingredienserna är rumstempererade och att du inte vispar för hårt.
- Fyll formarna med moussen och dekorera med granatäppelkärnor och citronskal precis innan serveringen.
Lemon Curd
från Leila Lindholm
3 ekologiska citroner
1,5 dl strösocker
50 g smör
1 msk maizena
2 ekologiska ägg
2 ekologiska äggulor
Gör så här:
- Tvätta tre citroner noga och torka. Koka upp citronsaft från två av citronerna samt rivet skal från alla tre, ihop med strösocker och smör. Sila sedan av vätskan.
- Blanda ut maizena med saften från din tredje citron och rör ner detta i vätskan.
- Vispa samman äggen och rör ner dem i vätskan, ställ tillbaka på spisen och sjud tills citronkrämen tjocknar.
- Häll över din lemon curd i en ren skål och låt svalna.