Fruit Tartlets With Lemon Curd

My husband's friend's mom made these throughout his childhood. She would set out bowls of fillings and whipped cream and let everyone make his own tart. Luckily she is not one of those people who doesn't share recipes! These are very light and fresh tasting and are great for entertaining. The tarts can be made up to 3 weeks ahead (stored in tin). I always make the lemon filling and a couple of others to add variety. You can used canned pie filling if desired.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Yields: 70 tarts

Ingredients

• Tart shells

• 1  cup butter, cut into small cubes
• 1  cup sugar
• 1  egg
• 3  cups all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon  almond extract

• Lemon filling

• 1⁄2 cup butter
• 2  whole eggs
• 2  egg yolks
• 1  cup sugar
• 2  lemons, juice of

Directions

1. Tart shells:
2. Combine like a pie crust, either by hand or processor.
3. If using processor, place flour, sugar, butter, and pulse until butter is in small pieces like peas.
4. Whisk egg and almond extract together and pour into feed tube.
5. Process until dough comes together in a ball.
6. Wrap in plastic and store in refrigerator until ready to use.
7. When ready to bake, form dough( I use my small cookie scoop to form dough) into tiny balls and press into lightly greased mini tart pans (I use about 2 inch pans in assorted shapes).
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or till light brown.
9. Lemon filling:
10. Melt butter in top of double boiler pan.
11. Add sugar, lemon juice, and eggs and yolks.
12. Cook on low until thick, stirring constantly.
13. Filling should be like thick pudding.
14. To assemble tarts with filling:
15. Put lemon filling into the cooled tart shells and garnish with whipped cream (if desired).