Coconut curd tarts

I have this musty old copy of Alice in Wonderland published in 1946, with the original Tenniel illustrations.  It is yellowed and mouldy-smelling, but it is perfectly readable and still enthrals me every time I pick it up. (Never mind that the old Rev. may have been a bit dodgy (get it?!) around little girls.)  I also own another fascinating copy illustrated by Yayoi Kusama.  She loves dots and so do I!
And what does all this have to do with the price of coconuts you may feel inclined to enquire?  Tarts, my dears, tarts!, that's what it's all about.  As the White Rabbit plaintively tells us, "The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, All on a summer day: the Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts, And took them quite away!"

the white rabbit (library image)

Well, I think these coconut curd tarts are worth risking the wrath of the Queen of Hearts, and the potential chopping off of heads.
First of all, I made Maggie Beer's famous sour cream pastry.  It is so simple- take 250g of flour, 200g of chilled and diced butter, and 125mls of sour cream and throw into the processor.  Give it a quick whiz till it forms a ball, then shove in the fridge for 20 minutes to relax.  (And don't we all need that?)  Then roll it out, line a 12 hole muffin tin, and blind-bake for about 20 minutes at 180C till golden, then leave to cool right down.  You can then fill the little cases with whatever you like;  I had coconut curd in the fridge so that is what I used.  (I have to admit that I didn't have quite enough of this curd so I used commercial lemon curd in a couple of them which worked just as well.)  Obviously buy the best lemon curd you can find.  I used a NZ brand which you can find on supermarket shelves.  It is very yummy!  I had some pastry left over so that went into a plastic bag and into the freezer for another day.
Once the cases were completely cool, I spooned in a generous dollop of the curd- (see one of my earlier posts for this recipe), and topped them off with a coconut cream mixture.  This is made by whipping 300mls of cream with 2 tbs of icing sugar, 2 tbs of coconut cream and 1/4 tsp of coconut essence.  I happened to have the coconut cream in the fridge but if you don't have any to hand, either leave it out or add a tiny bit more essence.  And to make it just a little more decadent, I sprinkled some grated chocolate over them.
Yes, definitely worth a be-heading!

love the chess game, and the dots!

ingredients blitzed up into a ball

blind baked with baking paper and pie weights

whipping up the coconut cream; and topping the tarts 

tarts, glorious tarts! (library image/public domain)