Lemon Tarts-Sweet and sour and Eggless

Sweet and Tart.
Fragrant and sweet and tart and fresh.Full of the zing of lemon and the smoothness of lemon curd,but without any eggs.

No,its not totally vegan,but for those who are allergic to eggs and /or dont want eggs in their food for religious reasons would never have tasted lemon curd.

Never would they have known what they were missing.
A bite of heaven.
Yes,food is so melodramatic.
Things that make you go hmmmm....
And a lemon tart is seriously that.
A teensy weensy bite of sweet and sour and butter and its over....
Lemon curd is generally made with an egg custard and lemon juice and sugar and butter.So here we omit the most important base which makes the lemon curd smooth and pipeable.
Made here with eggs and a chiffon cake...
This was made with lemon juice and sugar and lemon zest and butter and a little cornstartch.
I used brown and polson's Vanilla custard otherwise the lemon curd would have been pale.
A burst of sunshine is needed on the outside as well as on the inside.
just the thought is enough to get me salivating.
So  without wasting much time let me get on with it...truth be told , I've been posting much from my smartphone as our locality has been facing severe power outages...so its easier to write a wee bit less...

for  the

Lemon tarts with egg less lemon curd...

you need

Short crust pastry for 25 tart bottoms(innuendos.) Find the recipe here.

Eggless lemon curd
Juice of 10 lemons
zest of 3-4 lemons
3/4 cup to 1 cup granulated sugar
2 to 3 tbsps vanilla custard powder(cornstarch will do but then you will need a few drops yellow food colour)
125 gms softened butter. ..I used amul..slightly salty and a perfect foil for the sweet and tart curd...

Juice and zest the lemons and place in a stainless steel pan with the sugar.

Let this mix simmer till the sugar hs dissolved and a few minutes more.
Dissolve the custard powder or cornstartch in a tbsp or two of water and let the lemon juice mix come to s rolling boil.

Whisking well, pour in the slurry into the boiling juice mix to thicken it. It won't look too thick at this stage, barely holding its own ,but no worries. ..chill and let this cool to room temperature.
It looks a little better at this stage...thicker and glossier. ..
Now whisk in the softened butter a couple of table spoons at a time.
After you've  added most of the butter, you'll be able to judge how much more you need.
Cover this curd with cling wrap and cool it. Make sure you've tasted it to get the balance of acid and sugar and butter right.
Once the lemon curd is chilled,you can whisk it further if you want to pipe it on to your tart bottoms(giggling here) or just spoon it in...

I prettified my tarts with kiwi fruit bits because I had them in my fridge. ..you don't really need them...
There is  heaven in the tarts already. ...
And I'm trying to diet here, but these heavenly tarts will take me to hell and back....

These are so easy. ..even if your trepidations will peak with the short crust pastry make the curd and spike up your life. ...

So what  are you baking today???