Cooking Instructions
1.
Using a pastry cutter, cut the
Unsalted Butter (1/3 cup)
and
Vegetable Shortening (3/4 cup)
in a bowl with
All-Purpose Flour (2 1/2 cups)
and
Salt (1 tsp)
until it resembles a coarse meal. A few big bits are ok!
2.
Add cold
Water (1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon at a time, and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate. You may not need the full 1/2 cup water, so add by tablespoons until Do not add any more water than you need to. The dough should start to clump, and you can begin to collect it and roll into a ball. Place the pie dough on a floured work surface and knead for a minute until flour is incorporated and the dough forms a slightly sticky ball.
3.
Divide the dough into two balls and flatten it into disks.
4.
Cover each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Lightly spray two mini muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
5.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) and make sure the rack is in the middle of your oven.
6.
Using one crust at a time, roll on a lightly floured work surface until about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick.
7.
Using a flower cookie cutter, cut out as many flowers as possible, re-rolling and cutting. Press the flowers gently into a muffin tin and let petals drape over top, so just a small section of the flower sits in a muffin tin (creating a well).
8.
Place the muffin tins in the refrigerator to chill for about 15 minutes.
Remove the muffin tins from the refrigerator and prick the bottoms of the shells with a fork. Place a mini muffin liner filled with beans in each muffin cup.
9.
Bake the shells for 20 minutes, or until just barely brown. Let cool for 5 minutes, remove cups of beans.
10.
Repeat with the remaining dough.
11.
For the lemon curd, place the
Egg Yolks (4)
in a bowl and set aside. Whisk together the
Granulated Sugar (2/3 cup)
and
Corn Starch (3 Tbsp)
in a medium saucepan.
12.
Whisk in 1 cup of water and heat boil over medium heat, stirring often until mixture starts to thicken.
13.
Add a ladleful of the hot sugar mixture to your egg yolks, whisking to incorporate. Next, pour the yolk mixture into the saucepan and continue whisking until well combined. Reduce the heat to low, and continue whisking for 1 minute.
14.
Remove from the heat and add the
Lemon Zest (1 1/2 Tbsp)
,
Lemon Juice (1/3 cup)
, and
Unsalted Butter (2 Tbsp)
and whisk until combined.
15.
Chill until slightly thickened.
16.
Place the lemon curd in a piping bag with a medium or large round tip. Pipe into the cooled pie shells.
17.
Top with
Powdered Confectioners Sugar (1/2 cup)
using a sifter or fine mesh strainer.