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5.0 from 6 votes

Vegan Lemon Tartlets

If you love lemon desserts, then these Lemon Curd Tartlets are absolutely perfect for you! They feature a delicious creamy, lemon curd filling and buttery shortcrust pastry tarts that have the most delicious flavor. What's best is that they're also incredible easy to make and are also vegan!

Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Additional Time
1 hr
Total Time
2 hrs 10 mins
Servings: 5 tartlets
Calories: 479 kcal
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

For the dough
  • 1 ⅓ c flour
  • 2 teaspoon maple syrup
  • 1 tick (½ c) vegan butter chilled
  • 4-5 tablespoon ice cold water
For the lemon curd
  • ¾ c almond milk
  • ½ c coconut cream solid part from the can of coconut milk
  • 5 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 lemons juiced
  • 2 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch
  • ½ teaspoon agar powder
  • ½ teaspoon Yellow food coloring optional
For the meringue
  • 3 tablespoon aquafaba liquid from the can of chickpeas
  • 7 tablespoon organic powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

To make the dough for the vegan tartlets
    Cup of Yum
  1. In a bowl of food processor add flour, Maple syrup and vegan butter. Pulse on high for 5-6 times to break big chunks of butter. The mixture will be crumbly. With a motor running on low add 4 tablespoon of water and process for 5-7 seconds until the dough starts to pull away from the walls.If after 7 seconds, your dough doesn't pull away from the walls of food processor, add another tablespoon of ice cold water and process on low for a few more seconds until the dough comes together.
  2. Gather the dough into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  3. Remove the dough from the fridge and discard the plastic wrap. Lightly sprinkle your working surface with some flour and roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick. Using a 6-inch cookie cutter cut out the dough circles.
  4. Place the circles of dough into 5 tartlet molds. Press excess toward the outside edge. Use your fingers to press the pastry dough in the flutes and create an even edge all around. Prick a crust with a fork. Place the tartlet shells in a freezer for 30 minutes.
  5. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Remove tartlet shells from the freezer and bake for 30 minutes until the edges are golden brown.
To make the lemon curd
  1. In a medium pot combine almond milk, coconut cream and Maple syrup. Bring to a gentle simmer stirring occasionally.In a small bowl whisk lemon juice, zest, cornstarch, agar powder and yellow food coloring.
  2. Add the mixture of lemon juice and agar to a pot with almond milk and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens and no lumps remain. As soon as the sauce starts to bubble, remove the pot from the heat.
  3. Divide the lemon sauce among the vegan tartlet shells and leave on the counter to set for about 1 hour. Then transfer to the fridge to cool for 2-3 hours.
To make the aquafaba meringue
  1. Using a hand mixer, beat aquafaba and powdered sugar until soft peaks, 3 to 5 minutes. Add lemon juice and continue beating for 1 minute.
  2. Fill a piping bag fitted with an open star pastry tip (#32) with a meringue and pipe small stars on each vegan tartlet. You can either fill out the whole area of a tartlet or pipe just in few spots.
  3. Using a kitchen blow torch, lightly caramelize the meringue tops. The vegan lemon tartlets are ready to be served.

Notes

  • Chill everything in fridge: Before you start making a shortcrust dough for the vegan tartlets, I recommend placing all ingredients as well as a bowl of a food processor in a fridge for 30 minutes. The colder it is, the easier it will be to make a crust.
  • Don't overwork pastry dough: When you work with the pastry dough, keep it simple. Kneading and rolling the shortcrust pastry for too long will result in a tough crust.
  • Don't skip freezing tartlets: Don't skip freezing the vegan tartlet shells before baking. This will reduce the possibility of dough shrinkage during the baking process.
  • Use fresh lemon juice: Don't use bottled lemon juice to make a curd. Always use fresh lemons.
  • Make curd properly: Don't stop whisking the curd until it's off the heat. Otherwise, it will result in a lumpy texture.
  • Using other fruits: You can fill these vegan tartlets with orange curd, mango, or pineapple. If you use any fruit that is different from lemons, you can either omit the yellow food coloring or replace it with an appropriate food coloring.
  • Pastry dough crumbly? Pastry dough becomes crumbly when it is too dry. If this happens, sprinkle about a teaspoon of cold water on your dough, knead, and then reassess the texture.If it's still crumbly, you can add some water. Don't overdo it, as the dough might become sticky, and you'll have to add more flour.
  • Pastry dough is sticky: You probably added too much water. My solution would be to sprinkle your rolling pin and the working surface with some flour. The dough will absorb the flour and should no longer be sticky.
  • Making tartlets ahead of time: You can make the tartlet shells 2 days ahead of time. The lemon curd filling can't be made in advance.
  • Storage: These vegan lemon tartlets can be stored in the refrigerator in airtight containers for up to 3 days. I don't recommend freezing them, though, as the crust will get soggy as they thaw.

Nutrition Information

Serving 1tartlet Calories 479kcal (24%) Carbohydrates 59.8g (20%) Protein 5.4g (11%) Fat 24.5g (38%) Saturated Fat 11g (55%) Sodium 221mg (9%) Potassium 217mg (6%) Fiber 1.8g (7%) Sugar 28g (56%) Calcium 36mg (4%) Iron 3mg (17%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 5tartlets

Amount Per Serving

Calories 479

% Daily Value*

Serving 1tartlet
Calories 479kcal 24%
Carbohydrates 59.8g 20%
Protein 5.4g 11%
Fat 24.5g 38%
Saturated Fat 11g 55%
Sodium 221mg 9%
Potassium 217mg 5%
Fiber 1.8g 7%
Sugar 28g 56%
Calcium 36mg 4%
Iron 3mg 17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.