Still no baking around here… it’s just too hot. But there’s only so much ice cream I can stock in the freezer, and I can’t stay out of the kitchen, so a no-bake dessert was in order.

The curd for these tartlets is really easy to make. It’s not a free-flowing curd that you would spread on toast, but a thickened one for easy eating. It’s not too sweet, and it balances the cream nicely. I used store-bought tartlet shells for these, but you can make your own, even if that does remove the no-bake aspect 😉

Makes: about 10 tartlets, depending on size of shells
Preparation: 45 minutes active time
Chilling: about 2 hours

Ingredients

~10 tartlet shells
250ml (1 cup) heavy cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
dash vanilla extract
strawberry curd (recipe below)

Strawberry curd

500g / about 1lb strawberries
1 Tbsp lemon juice
100g / 1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp all-purpose (plain) flour
1/4 tsp fine salt
3 large egg yolks
28g (2 Tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

Directions

Wash, hull and roughly chop the strawberries and place them in a small, heavy-based saucepan along with the lemon juice.

Heat on medium-low, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or so, until the fruit has broken down and is easily squashed.

Remove from heat and purée with a stick blender, blender or food processor. Set aside to cool a bit.

In the top pan of a double boiler or in a nonreactive saucepan, whisk together the strawberry puree, sugar, cornstarch, flour, salt and egg yolks until smooth.

Set the top pan over but not touching simmering water in the bottom pan, or place the saucepan on very low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture is warmed through, just a couple of minutes.

Begin adding softened butter a little at a time, stirring each addition until blended before adding more.

Continue cooking, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, until a finger drawn across the back of the spatula leaves a clear path, about 5 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat.

Press the curd through a fine-mesh strainer set over a stainless steel, ceramic or glass bowl. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed to the surface and refrigerate until chilled.

Spoon the curd into the tartlet shells, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, and dollop or pipe on top of the tartlets.