Lemon Tartlets

This is a fun little recipe I got straight out of a Pampered Chef cookbook. Well, they say "cookbook" but it reads more like an advertisement for the many kitchen gadgets they offer. According to the recipe I need no less than seven of their products to make this one recipe. I admit to using their mini muffin pan, but not because I think it's superior, more that I felt obligated to buy something at a friend's "party". The one item I wish I had was the Mini-Tart Shaper- which I do own, or at least one time did, but it was no where to be found in my kitchen gadget drawer. I am thinking it either went to DI in a mis-guided attempt at de-cluttering said drawer, or because of it's strong resemblance to a bone, the kids buried it in the back yard or something. I ended up using the round handle of another cooking tool (a spatula or something) to shape the tartlets. It took a little longer, but it worked just fine.

Also I was pretty excited to use actual lemons off a tree in my backyard for this recipe. There was a time when I would have been making a last minute trip to the store just for a lemon or two.

Lemon Tartlets

Tart Shells:

1/2 c butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 egg white

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

Filling:

2 eggs

1/3 c granulated sugar

1 TBS butter, melted and cooled

1 lg lemon

powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray cups of mini-muffin pan with nonstick spray. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg white; blend well. Add flour, mix just until well blended. Evenly drop spoonfuls of dough into muffin cups. Press dough into cups with well floured tart shaper. (finger, clean dowel, round handle of wooden spoon, Pampered Chef's $7 perfectly sized piece of wood that looks enough like a bone for your kids to want to play with it)

For filling, lightly whisk eggs. Mix in sugar and butter. Zest lemon, finely chop zest to measure 2 teaspoons zest. Add zest and 3 tablespoons lemon juice to bowl; mix well. Pour filling evenly into tart shells.

Bake 20-22 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes, then carefully remove tartlets from pan. Cool completely. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving if desired. Makes 24 tartlets.