1/4 cup butter
Lemon Sunshine, Butter Mellow...
In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese and 1/2 cup butter with an electric mixer on medium. Beat until creamy, reduce speed to low, and beat in the flour and until a soft dough forms. Cover, chill at least an hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Flour your hands, and divide the dough into 24 equal pieces. (This dough is really soft and squidgy.) Press the dough pieces evenly into and up the sides of 24 mini muffin-pan cups. A tart-tamper works really well for this, if you don't have one, get one!
Alternately, you can roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness on a floured board. Then, using a 3" round or scalloped cookie cutter, cut out 24 rounds (gather scraps and re-roll if necessary.) Pat the rounds into the muffin pans.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool in the pans.
Fill 'er Up!
In a small saucepan, beat the three eggs. Add 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1/3 cup lemon juice, and 1/4 cup butter. Stirring well, cook over low heat until thick, about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, and add the lemon zest. Scoop filling evenly into shells. Chill for at least an hour. Top with whipped cream rosettes if desired.
Notes and Hints and Stuff
- Don't Get Overanxious
Make sure the filling is quite cold before you add the whipped cream, or it will melt and run all over the place. Trust me on this.
