TWD: tartest lemon tartlets

Who wants a tart lemon tartlet? "We do, we do," Willa and Charlie yell with excitement. Really this is what they look like when they are excited. Their little faces are the picture of unadulterated excitement over lemon tartlets. Okay, I'm lying. These two were excited about lemon tartlets but their excitement was overshadowed by the tiff they were in. Little Willa spent the weekend with her cousins (two huge and beautiful great danes) and left Charlie home alone to meow and yowl in anguish. While away on her adventure at her cousins' house Willa discovered that if she dug in the grass she would find a tasty little treat almost as yummy as lemon tartlets, WORMS.  Oh, how the little one loved eating all those yummy worms. When Willa came home to the poor and lonesome Charlie she gave him her usual lick greeting. All was well in the house until Willa began digesting all those delicious worms. Let me be the first to tell you that worm farts are nasty. Really nasty. So in the picture above, Charlie is just too annoyed with Willa (and me for making him sit next to her) and her bodily functions to be that excited over lemon tartlets and little Willa isn't super excited because she still has a belly full of worms. 

Now I hope I haven't totally grossed you out that you are rapidly clicking to get off my blog. I promise no more talk about dog farts. 

Even though the animals weren't displaying their true excitement over the tartest lemon tart I was. I love lemon desserts. Lemons are just pretty and colorful and make me want to smile (see the picture above). Even though I utterly failed with my tartlets for the chocolate cream tart I decided that I would give the tartlet pans another shot. I can't let those tartlet pans beat me. I made the sweet tart dough with the addition of ground almonds. This time I baked them for the same amount of time as Dorie recommends for a large tart. When I took them out of the oven they looked good but I still had to make the filling, fill the tartlets and bake again before I would know whether the tartlets would come out of their pans.

I made the filling in the blender per Dorie's suggestion. I was a bit worried it would groan, smoke and curse at me for making it do its job of actually grinding something up. My blender is a major wimp and sometimes sputters and whines making a milkshake. It ground up the lemons and sugar no problem. I was so proud. It only grunted a little when I added the rest of the ingredients but it worked hard (did what it was made to do) and made a nice smooth filling. After filling my six tartlets I still had a bunch of the lemon filling leftover so if I make this again I think I'll just half the filling recipe. I baked the filled tartlets for less time due to the small amount of filling in each tartlet. They all bubbled over and made a bit of a mess. These tartlets weren't so pretty when I pulled them out of the oven. Due to the bubbling overflowing filling I hoped and prayed that I could get the tartlets our of their pans. I am glad to inform everyone that my tartlets came out of the pans. After the first tartlet came out of its pan I squealed with excitement and did a happy jig and scared little Willa. I made some whipped cream and piped it on and then zested a little lemon peel over the tart. Much cuter than what it looked like straight from the oven.

Just look at my perfect little tartlet shell. The tartest lemon tart looks good but the real question is did it taste good. The husband said it was his favorite so far. Which I found surprising because he likes his chocolate. I thought it was yummy and refreshing. It reminded me of what a lemon bar would taste like if it was going to black tie event. A bit more polished and primped but it still has the basic goodness of the lemon bar from next door.  

Anyone care for a bite? 

Charlie: You're disgusting Willa. Just leave me alone already.

Willa: I said I was sorry. I made you a lemon tart why won't you forgive me.

Charlie: Because my nose still burns, dog.

Willa: It's not my fault. The worms did it. I love you. Have a bite of fart, oops I meant tart. Ah, Charlie come back I was just teasing.

Thank you Babette for picking such a refreshing choice for this week. Head over to her blog, Babette Feasts for the recipe.  You should also go check out what the rest of the TWD bakers did with their tarts.

Song of the week chosen because of the word lemon in its title: