This recipe is adapted from the Tortoises and Tumbleweeds cookbook by Lannice Snyman

 

Ingredients:

Lemon Curd

3 Egg Yolks

100g castor sugar or granulated sugar

Zest of 2 Lemons

125ml fresh lemon juice

5ml cornflour/cornstarch

60mg butter, cut into cubes

 

Lemon Shortcrust Pastry

250g cake flour or all purpose flour

60g icing sugar/confectoiners sugar

125g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Zest of 1 lemon

2ml vanilla extract

1 egg, lightly beaten

 

Directions:

For the lemon curd place the egg yolks and sugar into a saucepan and whisk without heating until well blended. Mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice and cornflour/cornstarch. Cook mixture over low heat and stir constantly until it thickens like custard and coats the spoon. Remove from heat and push through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps or solids. Whisk in the diced butter. Cover with plastic wrap pressed against the surface of the curd to prevent any skin from forming or keep in a well-sealed jar. Chill in the fridge.

For the Lemon Shortcrust Pastry sift together the flour and the icing sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until crumbled and pea-sized pieces remain. Add the lemon zest and the vanilla extract and mix lightly. Add the egg and then knead gently until the dough comes together. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refridgerate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 180C or 360F and grease a muffin tin. Roll out the pastry dough on a lightly floured surface until about 1/8 of an inch thick and cut into circles using either a 4 inch cookie cutter or a large glass. Place the circles into the muffin tin to form little baskets and prick the bases with a fork. Freeze for 30 minutes then bake for about 12-15 minutes until the pastry is golden.

Allow the pastry baskets to cool completely on a wire rack. Once they are cool, fill with 1-2tbsp of lemon curd. Serve with whatever cute decorations you have on hand! I had cape gooseberries so I used those with some lemon slices and some mint.