This recipe is a treasure. The dough is so tender and the results are the most charming little "puffiest" -- the resulting pastry is just a delight. I've made these very small (one-bite) and larger (several bites) and filled them with marmalade, various preserves, lemon curd, Nutella---all with great success. The dough comes together very easily in the food processor and is easy to work with as long as it doesn't get too warm. But it's very forgiving--a few minutes in the fridge and it's ready to go again.

This has become my standard lemon curd/cream. I think it is absolutely marvelous. The first time I made it, it seemed a bit fussy. I came to the recipe again and made it with ease. It can be a bit tedious in the stirring to temp phase, but other than that, it comes together beautifully. I pour the hot creme into the blender jar and let it cool a bit. Then whizz it with the butter and strain it into a wide pyrex dish, cover with plastic film and refrigerate--the wide bottomed 2 quart measuring cup, pre-chilled, really speeds up the cooling process. It's ready to be piped into pie shells within a couple of hours. I use an unsweetened tart dough and mini tart pans and serve the tarts with a bit of whipped cream and some fresh fruit.