Recipe

Make Pâte Sucrée

1. In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Add butter. Using hands, gently toss to coat butter in flour mixture, separating butter pieces as you go. Scoop up mixture in hands and gently press flour mixture and butter between fingertips, repeating until mixture looks sandy, with some small pieces of butter still visible and flour has turned pale yellow colour. Work quickly to ensure butter stays cold.
2. In small bowl, lightly beat together egg yolks and cream. Drizzle mixture over dough and use fork to gently toss until incorporated. Continue working dough, gently squeezing between fingertips and gathering up any crumbs along bottom of bowl, until it comes together and there is no dry flour visible. Be careful not to overwork dough; it’s ready as soon as you can squish dough in one hand and it stays together.
3. Divide dough in half and shape each half into disk about 5″ across. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 60 minutes, preferably overnight. Pâte Sucrée can be wrapped in double layer of plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 months. To thaw, place dough in refrigerator the day before you want to make tartlets.

Make Tartlet Shells

1. If chilled overnight, remove dough from refrigerator 30 minutes before rolling to ensure it’s slightly soft and ready to roll. (Doughs refrigerated for 60 minutes will be ready, or almost ready, to roll directly from fridge.) Each disk of dough will make eight 4″ tartlets.
2. Use bench scraper to divide 1 disk into 8 triangular wedges. Using hands, gently shape each wedge into small cylinder, then flatten cylinders into small disks and roll into rounds 5″ to 6″ in diameter and ⅛” thick.
3. Once round of dough is slightly larger than tartlet tin, lift by gently rolling it around rolling pin, brushing off any excess flour with pastry brush as you go. Move each piece into tin, being careful not to stretch it as you ease it into bottom and up sides. Begin trimming crust by pushing one thumb against inside edge of tin, keeping dough in place. Use your other thumb to trim away extra dough at top to make flat top edge. Be careful to make dough the same thickness all the way around to create uniform edge. (Keeping the crust’s edge uniform will ensure the crust doesn’t break as you take it out of the tin after baking.)
4. Freeze formed tartlet shells for 15 to 20 minutes before baking. If you want to freeze tartlet shells for longer, wrap them in double-layer of plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months. Frozen tartlet shells can be baked straight from freezer without thawing, for just a few minutes longer.

Bake Tartlet Shells

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Place chilled tartlet shells on 13″ x 18″ sheet pan. Cut out eight 6″ parchment paper rounds and centre one on top of each prepared tartlet shell. Fill parchment-lined shells with pie weights or dried beans.
2. Bake until edges are set and beginning to turn golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove parchment and beans or pie weights. Using wooden tamping tool, gently tamp down bottom surface of shells. Sprinkle bottoms with 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar. Return to oven and bake until bottom of tartlet shells are completely baked through and golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Set shells on wire rack to cool completely before filling, about 60 minutes. Transfer cooled shells from tins to serving plate or platter.

Make Filling and Assemble

1. In medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, lemon juice, whole eggs and egg yolks, until combined. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly in figure-eight motion with wooden spoon, until mixture has thickened and coats back of spoon, about 5 minutes. (You’ll know it’s done when you can draw a line onto the back of the spoon with a finger and the line holds.) Remove from heat.
2. Strain lemon curd through fine-mesh strainer into large bowl. Add butter, one piece at a time, stirring with clean spatula until melted between each addition. Add salt and stir. Pour warm curd directly into tartlet shells until it reaches top of tarts. Set tartlets aside until set in centre, about 2 hours. These are best served the day you make them.