Sweet and tangy mini lemon tarts with buttery shortbread crusts and simple lemon curd filling are delicious and adorable spring and summer desserts!
This post was originally published June 2017 and has been updated.
When life gives you lemons... don't make lemonade?
That's right. Make dessert. Because there's nothing better in the springtime than a bright and cheery lemon dessert! But unfortunately, life does not give me lemons. So I go to my sister's house, because life has blessed her with a whole tree full of gorgeous lemons right in her backyard! And her backyard lemons are just perfect for making mini lemon tarts!
Why You'll Love These Mini Lemon Tarts
- These lemon tarts are simply delicious! With a crisp, buttery shortbread crust with just a hint of vanilla and a smooth, creamy, tart lemon curd filling, they're so cheerful for spring!
- The tiny size is adorable! Bring these perfectly portioned treats to Easter brunch, showers, or make them just because.
- They're a great use for lemon curd. I use homemade lemon curd in this recipe, but if you have a spare jar sitting around, these would be the perfect recipe for using it!
- They're made with just a few simple ingredients that you probably already have - butter, eggs, flour, sugar, lemons. That's just about all you need!
How To Make Mini Lemon Tarts With Shortbread Crust
First, make the crusts.
- Cream butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer). Add the vanilla and mix. Then, mix in the flour and salt.
- Refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes. This will make it easier to press into the pans.
- Press the dough into mini tart pans. I use 3.5 inch pans like these.
- Bake the crusts for 10-15 minutes at 300°F until they are golden.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs very well. They should be fully combined and fluffy.
- Combine the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and salt in a non-reactive saucepan or pot. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, then turn off the heat.
- Temper the eggs by pouring about ½ cup of the warmed lemon mixture into the bowl of eggs, whisking as you pour.
- Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the lemon juice, whisking the entire time to prevent curdling.
- Turn the heat back on to low and cook, stirring the entire time, until the mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the butter.
- If you want your lemon curd super smooth, you can strain it by pushing it through a fine mesh strainer, or just leave it as is. Let the lemon curd cool before spreading into the tart crusts.
Assemble the mini tarts.
- Once tart crusts are completely cooled, carefully pop them out of the pans.
- Spoon lemon curd evenly into the crusts and spread it with the back of a spoon to fill each crust.
- Top mini tarts however you'd like!
Tips For Making The Best Mini Lemon Tarts
- I like homemade lemon curd best (the flavor is out of this world!), but you can absolutely use premade lemon curd if that's what you have.
- Some commenters have experienced a metallic taste due to using a metal saucepan. I've never had this occur with stainless steel, but it may be best to use a non-reactive pan, such as an enameled pot to avoid leaching.
- When making the lemon curd, make sure the eggs are fully whisked to prevent lumpy curd. You'll also want to make sure you don't skip them tempering step, and then keep the heat as low as possible in the final cooking and thickening step.
- Make sure crusts are completely cool before taking them out of the pans and adding the lemon curd to them. If you don't have pans with removable edges, you can gently slide a toothpick between the edge of the crust and the pan to help you pop it out.
- If you have Meyer lemons, you can make Meyer lemon curd. It's a little sweeter and so delicious!
- If you like your lemon curd a little sweeter, increase the sugar to ¾ cup.
How To Decorate Mini Lemon Tarts
For a more rustic, understated dessert, top with a dollop of whipped cream and call it good. For something a little more elegant and fun, you can pipe whipped cream onto the tarts and/or top with berries or lemon slices.
How To Store Mini Lemon Tarts
Store leftover mini lemon tarts in the refrigerator. I don't recommend freezing them and the crust will get soggy as they thaw.
I also don't recommend assembling your mini tarts too far ahead of time, as the crust will get soft, but you can make the crust and lemon curd up to 2 days in advance and leave them separate until just before serving (or a couple of hours before). Store the crust at room temperature in an airtight container, and the lemon curd in the fridge in an airtight container.
More Spring Desserts You'll Love
- Gluten Free Lavender Lemon Bars
- Strawberry Rhubarb Mini Tarts
- Coconut Cake with 7 Minute Frosting
- Healthy Hummingbird Cake Banana Bread
- Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the comments!
PrintMini Lemon Tarts with Shortbread Crust
Sweet and tangy mini lemon tarts with buttery shortbread crusts and simple lemon curd filling are delicious and adorable spring and summer desserts!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: about 6 tarts (depending on pan size) 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup white whole wheat (or all purpose) flour
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt (omit if using salted butter)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup lemon curd (recipe below)
For the lemon curd:
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ¾ cup fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt (omit if using salted butter)
- 3 large eggs + 4 large egg yolks
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (½ stick), cubed
Instructions
- In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in vanilla. Add flour, and salt and mix well. Refrigerate dough for 30 min.
- Preheat oven to 300° F. Remove dough from refrigerator and press into mini tart pans. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden.
- Remove from oven and let cool before removing tarts from pans.
- Fill each cooled tart crust with lemon curd. Top with berries or whipped cream (optional).
To make lemon curd:
- Whisk eggs and egg yolks very well in a bowl. Set aside.
- In a small nonreactive saucepan, heat lemon zest, juice, sugar and salt over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat. Slowly scoop a about ½ cup into the eggs while whisking.
- Pour egg mixture into the pan on the stove while whisking to prevent curdling. Turn heat back on to low and cook, whisking, until mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the cubed butter until it’s completely mixed in.
- At this point you can strain the zest out and any egg solids that may be in the curd if you’d like, by pushing it through a fine mesh stainer, or just leave it as is.
- Cover lemon curd and chill until ready to use.
Notes
- I like homemade lemon curd best (the flavor is out of this world!), but you can absolutely use premade lemon curd if that's what you have.
- Some commenters have experienced a metallic taste due to using a metal saucepan. I've never had this occur with stainless steel, but it may be best to use a non-reactive pan, such as an enameled pot to avoid leaching.
- When making the lemon curd, make sure the eggs are fully whisked to prevent lumpy curd. You'll also want to make sure you don't skip them tempering step, and then keep the heat as low as possible in the final cooking and thickening step.
- Make sure crusts are completely cool before taking them out of the pans and adding the lemon curd to them. If you don't have pans with removable edges, you can gently slide a toothpick between the edge of the crust and the pan to help you pop it out.
- If you have Meyer lemons, you can make Meyer lemon curd. It's a little sweeter and so delicious!
- If you like your lemon curd a little sweeter, increase the sugar to ¾ cup.
- You can make the crusts and lemon curd up to 2 days in advance, but wait until a couple hours before serving to assemble them.
Keywords: mini lemon tarts, mini lemon tarts with shortbread crust, lemon tartlets, mini meyer lemon tarts
Shelley says
I was wondering if I could use a mini muffin pan for this recipe?
Clark says
Excellent recipe, I used a mini muffin pan to make micro tartlets. They turned out perfectly. The curd took longer than 5 minutes to thicken (possibly since I'm at high altitude /shrug). Just cranked the heat a bit and cooked for a few minutes longer. Really tasty.
★★★★★
Lisa says
Made this for a little “Finer Things Club.” I have few cooking/baking skills and these turned out great for me! I was so proud of the result! Thank you for the recipe. Every other one I found was a 4.5 hour process. I needed these for a 10am party that we planned the night before and I totally pulled it off and still had time for a run and a shower. 😅
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
So glad they worked well for you, Lisa!
Jay says
Similar to another commenter I had a metallic after taste in my lemon curd as well. My lemon mixture also didnt thicken and i followed the instructions exactly. Disappointing as this was going to be my Easter dessert to bring to a gathering and a waste of ingredients. Oh well.
★★
Kaleigh says
So sorry it didn't work out for you! I've had many people make this recipe with success. What kind of pan did you use? I have just added a note to use a nonreactive pan to avoid leaching.
Catherine says
I had to come back and read through comments to try to figure out why mine was a disaster. The recipe is missing important info. I tried making small mini tarts - I used too much dough because there was no guidance about it. I was not told to prick the bottom with a fork or put pie weights in it so it rose and the cooking time was way off. Baked it for 30 mins at least. Regarding the curd - I am really disappointed. The recipe says 3 whole eggs + 4 egg yolks. That is a plus sign, right? As in - in addition to? My curd had 7 egg yolks and 3 egg whites. No wonder it is a runny mess! That’s completely wrong! This was only my second time making a lemon curd, the other was a vegan recipe, so I just followed your instructions not knowing any better. I hate that I wasted all that time and all those ingredients.
★
Kaleigh says
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I've never needed to use weights on my crust. The amount of eggs plus yolks is correct. Many people have made this recipe with success, so I'm not sure what went wrong for you.
Sara says
I followed this recipe to a T and unfortunately the lemon curd came out tasting metallic. I checked online for possible causes and aparently the high acidity of the lemon may leach the metal from the saucepan when it's being whisked over low heat. Apparently this happens a lot with lemon curd recipes, so it's almost impossible to know how it'll turn out until the end. Perhaps it would be possible to whisk the mixture over a bain-marie, to thicken it without using any metal whatsoever, but I will leave that experiment for the future.
★★
Suzanne says
I never had luck making lemon curd…until now! Worked beautifully! (Yes, tempering is key!) I made one big tart today, instead of mini tarts, just out of convenience. In this case, the crust needs to stay in the oven a little longer, and I baked it at 325 instead of 300 degrees. I also substituted powdered sugar for regular sugar in the crust, just as I would use for making shortbread cookies. I love the ease of making the curd and crust the night before dinner and assembling right before serving! Thank you so much for this recipe!! Will add some variety to the dessert table this Thanksgiving, and add an appropriate injection of sunshine into our Southern California gathering.
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
So glad this recipe works out great for you! Thanks for sharing your tips.
Jade says
What would you suggest when using store bought lemon curd? Should I put it straight into the done pastry from the jar? I’m so lost haha!
Kaleigh says
Hi Jade, Yes you can scoop it straight from the jar into the baked crust!
Georgia says
Hi, I have made these before and they worked out perfectly! I am wanting to try these on a larger scale, do you think I could use this recipe for a single large tart instead of mini ones?
Kaleigh says
Hi Georgia, I have tried making the crust in a larger pan before and it was too crumbly, maybe because there wasn't enough dough? You might try looking for another crust recipe specific to a large pan.
lana says
Big daddy dave loved this!
★★★★★
Jk says
Ok Lana 👀
Ja says
Hello, I don't understand the amount of eggs for the lemon curd. Is it 7 eggs total with only the yolk in 4 of them? 4 eggs total with one of them yolk only? Something else? Thanks!
Kaleigh says
Yes, 7 eggs total with only yolks for 4.
Roxanne says
I made more lemon filling than i needed. How long does it keep in the fridge?
Kaleigh says
Hi Roxanne,
The filling will last up to a week in the refrigerator, but it can also be frozen!
Tammy says
Great recipe. Everything went as planned just as you described.
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
Glad to hear it! Thanks for the review, Tammy.
Melanie Valenzuela says
Hello what are the measurements for the shortbread crust?
Kaleigh says
Hi Melanie, do you mean how big are the tart pans? Mine were 3.5 inches across.
Mary Fontanazza says
While these looked and sounded delicious, they were a disaster for me. I could not serve them. I had problems with both the tart crusts and the lemon curd. I made them as well as mini cheesecakes for a baby shower. The cheesecakes were no problem so I know it was not my oven. The crusts were difficult to get out of the tartlet pans and crumbled. I baked them longer than 15 minutes because they did not seem to be getting done and still they tasted like they had not baked long enough. I also had a problem with the lemon curd. It did not thicken very much. It was the consistency of a thick cream soup. It did taste delicious though.
★
Kaleigh says
I'm so sorry the recipe didn't work out for you, Mary. It has worked well for many other readers, so I'm not sure what went wrong.
Kavya says
Can i substitute eggs with plain curd.
Kaleigh says
Hi Kavya, I'm not sure what you mean by plain curd.
Kate says
Hello! How much dough (even a rough guesstimate is appreciated) should be put in each pan? I'm not quite sure how thick they should be/if i should roll out and cut rounds or what lol. Thank you!
Tavisha says
Hiiii! It was very bery tasty
Zoe says
I LOVE the curd filling... I made these for a wedding and I got so many compliments. The crust though did not hold for me and fell apart after taking them out of this so I had to buy shells.
★★★★
Rebecca Simpson says
Looooooved this lemon curd filling! I especially like how I can make it ahead of time, keep it in the fridge and spoon it into my tart shells when I'm ready, and no baking required!
How long do you think I could keep these lemon tarts out of the fridge for, before they are consumed? I am hoping to use them for an event where they won't be refrigerated during the day.
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
I'm so glad you like them, Rebecca! You can probably keep them out for a day or so before needing to refrigerate them as long as it's not too warm.
Trish says
So delicious!! Could I use the same curd recipe and just use different fruit? Raspberry in place of lemon for instance, or would the recipe change?
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
Hi Trish, I'm so glad you loved it! I haven't ever tried with other fruit so I can't say, but I'd think that other citrus would be the same. I'm not sure about other fruits.
Natasha says
Wow the lemon curd turned out divine! ✨and the tarts came out beautifully! Thank you for such a tasty yet simple recipe to follow 😊
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
Thanks Natasha! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Rebecca Van Dam says
Hi, planning on making these this afternoon and wondering if the butter should be melted, or softened.
Kaleigh says
Hi Rebecca, The butter should be softened to room temperature.
Rachel says
I love this lemon curd and I'm going to use it for everything. I already tried mixing it in to a buttercream for macarons and it's soooo good.
A tip for those reading the comments. When she says mix well for the shortbread that means mix well! My first batch was crumbly and I thought it was just like that but I got distracted when making my second batch and left the mixer running and it's so much easier to work with!
★★★★★
Kaleigh says
I'm so glad you like it, Rachel! Thanks for sharing your tips.
Mary says
I was given fresh lemon curd so made the tarts. Absolute disaster. Thought I’d followed the instructions well but mix was wet and sticky. Bubbled. Way too sweet and a right old mess. Gave me a laugh and I have a photo 🤣🤪🤦♀️
★★
Kaleigh says
Sorry it didn't work out for you, Mary. Many people have made them with success, so I'm not sure what went wrong.