First make the candied lemon:
Bring a medium pot filled with water to a boil.
Take one lemon and slice it using a fine slicer.
Have a bowl ready with ice water.
Put the slices in to the boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes.
Pour the water in to a strainer over the sink. Put the slices in to the ice water.
In the same pot put 1C sugar and 1C water, boil. When the sugar has dissolved put the slices in to the syrup and reduce the heat to low. Keep on low for 40 minutes. When translucent (after 40 mins), take out the slices, separate them and place them on to parchment paper. Keep them there until ready to use. Save the lemon syrup, add 1T of vodka if you like. This will be the syrup that is used to toss in to the blueberries, but it must be fully chilled.
Keep the leftover candied lemon in an airtight container, it can be used for other lemon desserts.
Lemon-orange curd:
Zest 2 lemons and 1 orange.
Juice the citrus above, and combine them.
In a medium saucepan put:
The juice of the citrus, should be around 1/2-3/4C.
Add 1/4 stick unsalted butter and
1/8C heavy cream. Bring almost to a boil.
In a separate bowl whisk:
3 large eggs
1/2C sugar
1/4t salt
1t vanilla extract.
Temper in the lemon mixture in to the egg mixture, whisking constantly, Then pour everything back in to the saucepan. Thicken over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Have a clean bowl ready, with a strainer over it.
When the curd has thickened, when it coats the spatula nicely and is almost bubbling, pour it in to the strainer.
Cover the curd with plastic wrap, to prevent a skin from forming, and cool fully.
When chilled whip 1C heavy cream with 1T powdered sugar, whip till stiff. Reserve 1/4C whipped cream to pipe on to the tartlets at the end. Then to the rest, add 2C lemon-orange curd. Fold it nicely, put it in to a piping bag, filled with a large round tip. Keep chilled till ready to use.
Now make the mini pie shells.
Crust:
In a large mixing bowl add:
1C all purpose flour
2T sugar
1/2t salt
1 stick unsalted, cold butter, cut in small pieces
Using your hands mix together roughly until the butter has mixed in the flour more, and the whole thing looks like course crumbs. You want there to be butter chunks left, this is what makes the crust flakey. Add the wet ingredients (below), and make one big ball.
1 egg
1T cold milk
1T cold water
If it's still too dry, add a little more water, but this should be enough. Flatten in to a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Cool in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Have a muffin tin ready, and an appropriate circle cutter to fill the muffin tin. Approximately a 4" cutter will do nicely.
Cut the disc in half and with enough flour underneath the dough, and on top to prevent sticking, roll it out, turning the dough, until it is 1/8" thick. Make the dough nice and thin. Cut it out, and fill the muffin tin, which does not need to be greased.
Prick the bottom of the shells with a fork about 4 times, to prevent them from bubbling too much.
Bake for about 8-10 minutes at 350F, till golden brown. Allow to cool fully.
Take 12oz of fresh blueberries, and add about 3T of the lemon simple syrup to them. Toss till nicely covered.
Now pipe the shells with the curd-cream, fill them nicely about 3/4 full.
Now take a large spoonful of blueberries and pile them on top, trying to cover the cream as much as possible, making little towers of blueberries. Avoid adding excess syrup on your spoon, or it will go all over the tarts and get messy.
Fill another piping bag, with a very small star tip and pipe the whipped cream on top of each one, then finish it off with 1/2 of a strip of candied lemon. Enjoy.
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