Vegan Mini Lemon Tarts

• servings: 8 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

250g of plain flour (you can use gluten-free)

Zest of 1 medium lemon

50g of caster sugar

200g of dairy-free block butter (softened)

160g of lemon juice

250g of coconut milk (cream only)

250g of caster sugar

6 tablespoons of cornflour / cornstarch

Pinch of turmeric (or yellow food gel)

220ml of dairy-free whipping cream

Directions

Method (crust)

Preheat the oven to 180ºC fan and lightly grease a 8-10 mini tartlet tins with dairy-free butter. This recipe will make more or less tarts depending how much pastry and filling you use for each tart.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, add in the flour, lemon zest and sugar. Stir to combine. Add in the softened butter and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour mixture until a crumbly dough forms.

Firmly press equal amounts of the dough into the tartlet cases / tins and use your fingers to press down the bottom and up the sides. Tip: As the dough is sticky, coat your fingers in some plain flour before pressing it into the tin to prevent sticking. Prick the bases with a fork.

Place into the middle of the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden in colour.

Remove from the oven and set aside while you make the lemon filling.

Method (lemon filling)

Drain the clear liquid from a can of coconut milk, as you only want to use the thick white cream. Add all of the lemon filling ingredients into a medium sized saucepan. Stir to combine.

Heat over a medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens (this will take around 5 minutes). Stirring with a heat proof spatula or whisk will prevent any sticking and burning, and will remove any clumps.

Once the mixture is thick and glossy, remove from the heat. Remove about 2 tablespoons of the lemon filling and place into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate. This will be used for the decoration.

Evenly distribute the filling over into the tart cases. You want to do this immediately while the filling is still warm, as when it cools down it will be harder to pour. Place back into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. This will help bake and set the filling.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow the tarts to cool in the tins before removing. Transfer into the fridge for 6 hours to set. If you don’t allow them to set, the filling will be runny.

To serve, remove from the tins. Serve as they are or decorate with some delicious whipped cream.

Method (cream decoration)

Remove the clingfilm from the left over lemon curd and give it a whisk to remove any lumps. Transfer into a piping bag and snip off the tip.

Add the vegan whipping cream into a bowl and whip until soft peaks, either using a hand held electric whisk or in a stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment.

Transfer the thick cream into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle.

Pipe on some bulbs in a flower pattern, then pipe some of the left over lemon filling into the middle to finish off the flower.

Serve with a dusting of icing sugar and enjoy.