Instructions: If you have no tiny tart pans for this recipe, bake the dough as 2 inch-round cookies and top each with a spoonful of the lemon curd immediately before serving. Lemon curd keeps in the refrigerator for weeks and also makes a wonderful spread for toast.

Dough:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups cake flour

Lemon Curd:
4 large lemons
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 egg yolks
Fresh raspberries, optional
Fresh mint leaves, optional

To prepare dough, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until very soft and light. Beat in vanilla and egg yolk and continue beating until smooth and shiny, about 3 minutes longer. Stop mixer. Sift cake flour and add to butter mixture.

Pulse mixer on and off to incorporate flour. Scrape dough onto piece of plastic wrap. Wrap and chill until firm.

To prepare lemon curd, finely grate zest from lemons. Squeeze and strain juice. (There should be about 3/4 cup lemon juice. If not, squeeze an extra lemon.) Combine juice, zest, sugar and butter in nonreactive saucepan and bring to boil over low heat. Beat egg yolks in bowl until combined. Beat 1/4 cup of boiling liquid into yolks and bring remaining liquid to boil. Beat yolk mixture into boiling liquid and continue beating until thickened and mixture returns to gentle simmer, about 3 minutes. Pour lemon curd into clean bowl. Press plastic wrap against surface. Cover and refrigerate.

On floured surface, roll chilled cookie dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut dough into 2 inch rounds. Press them into buttered tart pans. Fill with dried beans. Bake at 350 degrees on middle rack about 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool.

Remove beans. Remove tart shells from pans.

No more than 1 hour before serving, fill each tart with spoonful of curd.

Garnish each with raspberry or mint leaf.

Makes 24 tarts.

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