Baking for fun.

Making the lime curd on St. Patrick's Day got me onto somewhat of a citrus curd kick. I noticed the bowl of sweet manadarins in my kitchen just beckoning for some love, so I decided to try making orange curd. Oh my. It was soooo good. For those of you who maybe don't know what curd is... it's something like a custard, made with fresh citrus juice, sugar, eggs, and butter. My friend Somer, who is like a craft goddess, gave me the inspiration to fold freshly whipped heavy cream into the orange curd. It tasted like a creamsicle. Like a big, sweet, creamy bowl full of creamsicle.

Then I got to thinking that the creamy goodness needed some sort of vessel, so I made some mini tart shells in my new mini silicone tart pan (which, sadly, I wouldn't recommend. I think the old fashioned metal pans are much easier to work with and produce a better product, so please forgive the tart shells' imperfections!). I adapted a recipe for Pâte Sablée (something like a shotbread crust) that I found here. I baked the crust completely, cooled it, filled it with the creamy orange curd and then topped it with more fresh whipped cream. They were...scrumptious. Probably one of my top 3 favorite desserts I have ever made (also in the top 3 is the Pear and Almond Frangipane Tart that I made a few days earlier, and neglected to photograph. Blasted camera - I always forget to do that!). And if the crust seems too daunting, we also tried layering the orange curd and the whipped cream in cups like parfaits. It was really good that way. And it would be nice with orange curd, lemon curd, lime curd... The possibilities are endless!

And I have to apologize, not the best photo, but I was in a hurry. To eat one :)