A few weeks ago I got a request to make 65 madeleines. For this request I used my madeleine recipe which is my favorite madeleine recipe and it is always a big success. People liked my madeleines a lot and the little cakes disappeared too quickly. There were rumors that the madeleines were made by an excellent pastry chef but little did they know that the madeleines were made by me who has professional baking background at all. I am just a passionate amateur who likes hiding behind a curtain. Some people still believe this rumor since I never revealed my identity nor did I advertise my name on the neatly packaged madeleines.
For making the madeleines I needed 600 g egg white which equals about 20 medium sized eggs. I always have leftover egg whites in my fridge but my fridge is never stocked with this huge amount of egg white. So after making the madeleines I was left with many egg yolks, to be precise I had 8 egg yolks to use up, in the fridge which rarely happens. 

The first thing that came to my mind was to make lemon tartlets which I have not made in a while and making the filling for lemon tartlets calls for quite a few egg yolks. Instead of using lemon juice I used the juice of a grapefruit; in my head I envisioned a beautiful orange grapefruit curd but I was wrong and the grapefruit curd does not differ from a lemon curd. I did not took into consideration that the egg yolks are too dominant and makes the curd yellow. I was disappointed but this changed quickly as soon as I took the first bite of one of grapefruit tartlets. The grapefruit curd had such an incredible creamy texture and the citrus flavor was perfectly balanced. Sometimes the lemon curd can be too sour in my opinion but my grapefruit curd was not too sour and not too sweet at the same time. It was the best citrus tartlet that I ever made in my life. Every time I made the grapefruit tartlets - I lost control how many I made over the last few weeks - I am so pleased with the result. I think I will never try another recipe. It is my perfect citrus tartlet recipe.
Sometimes lemon, in my case grapefruit, tartlets or tarte are topped with a layer of meringue.  A layer of meringue on top looks pretty but it is too sweet, at least for me. I prefer my citrus tartlets plain or with a few dollops of freshly whipped cream.

NOTE: For the recipe you need baked tartlet shells. My recipe for tartlet shells, accompanied with tips and tricks on making shortcrust pastry, is here.
The size of my tartlet shells are 8 cm / 3 inches in diameter and the height is 2 cm / 0.8 inch. Of course you can use bigger tartlet shells, or petite shells or make one big tart.
Makes the filling for 10 tartlets ( 8 cm / 3 inches in diameter)

INGREDIENTS

  • 150 ml / 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons juice of freshly squeezed grapefruit (equals one big grapefruit)
  • 90 g / 1/3 cup  and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 60 g egg yolks (equals yolk of 4 medium sized eggs)
  • 2 eggs (medium sized)
  • 85 g / 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1.5 g gelatin (1 sheet), soaked / 1/2 teaspoon gelatin powder

DIRECTIONS

  • Pour the grapefruit juice and sugar into a pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Set aside.
  • Mix egg yolks and eggs. Pour the hot grapefruit juice over the egg mixture and stir. Pour the mixture back to the pot. Heat the grapefruit mixture over medium heat, do nor forget to stir constantly, until the mixture starts thickening. As soon as the mixture starts thickening, remove the pot immediately from the heat. Add the soaked gelatin and mix well until the gelatin is dissolved. Add the butter cubes to a bowl and pour the hot grapefruit mixture over the butter. Stir until it has a smooth consistency. 
  • Pour the mixture into tartlet moulds. Let it set for at least half an hour. 
  • Decorate the tartlets to your liking. I piped little dots of whipped cream onto the tartlets and decorated the cakes with little mint leaves. 
  • The grapefruit tartlets taste the best on the same day. The tartlet taste great the next day as well and in my experience the tartlet shells did not get soft. But do not store the tartlets in the fridge, otherwise the tartlet shells might become soft because of the moisture of the fridge.