🍋🥜 Lemon Pistachio Desserts – Delicate Mini Citron Look-Alikes

A tangy lemon curd core, nutty pistachio crunch, and light mousse wrapped in a velvet-coated citrus shell.

These lemon pistachio desserts combine curd, mousse, and praline in a bright citrus shape with a velvet finish – fresh, tangy, and elegant.

These Lemon Pistachio Desserts are little works of edible art – shaped like lemons, bursting with citrus flavor, and balanced by a sweet pistachio crunch. Inside the velvet shell lies a frozen lemon curd core, surrounded by airy lemon mousse and resting on a crisp pistachio dacquoise layered with praline and white chocolate.

They're playful, fresh, and sophisticated. If you love citrus-forward desserts and pistachios, you're going to love this one – especially if you enjoy creating desserts that look like miniature fruits.

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 20

Servings Mini Cakes

Ingredients

✳️ Lemon Curd Insert

1½ gelatin sheets
70 g sugar
Juice and zest of 4 organic lemons
1 egg
50 g butter cubed

✳️ Pistachio Dacquoise

80 g sugar
3 egg whites
70 g pistachio flour blanched pistachios, finely blended
25 g all-purpose flour
30 g powdered sugar

✳️ Pistachio Praline Layer

50 g sugar
50 g water
100 g pistachios peeled
80 g white chocolate

✳️ Lemon Mousse

2 gelatin sheets
100 ml lemon juice
Seeds of ½ vanilla bean
60 g sugar
100 g heavy cream
100 g Greek yogurt 10%
Optional: yellow food coloring

✳️ Decoration

Yellow velvet spray
Small green lemon stems edible or decorative

Instructions

Lemon Curd Insert

Soak gelatin in cold water.
In a saucepan, combine sugar, lemon juice, zest, and egg.
Cook over medium heat while whisking constantly until it thickens (about 10 minutes).
Remove from heat, add butter, then gelatin. Stir until smooth.
Pour into small lemon-shaped silicone molds and freeze until solid.

Pistachio Dacquoise

Preheat oven to 240°C.
Whip egg whites, sugar, and vanilla into a soft meringue.
Fold in pistachio flour and powdered sugar.
Spread into a thin layer (no more than 1 cm) on parchment paper.
Bake for 5 minutes. Cool completely.

Pistachio Praline

Roast pistachios at 240°C for 5–6 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil sugar and water to a golden caramel.
Add roasted pistachios and stir on heat.
Spread onto parchment and let cool.
Blend until smooth and fluid (natural oils should release).
Melt white chocolate and mix into the praline.
Spread a layer over the pistachio dacquoise.
Once set, use a small round cutter to cut out 4 bases.

Lemon Mousse

Soak gelatin in cold water.
Heat lemon juice, vanilla, and sugar until just below boiling. Melt in gelatin.
Whip cream to soft peaks and fold in Greek yogurt.
Add food coloring if desired.
Fold in the cooled lemon mixture.
Fill each large lemon silicone mold about 2/3 full with mousse.
Gently press in the frozen lemon curd insert, then a pistachio base.
Freeze until completely solid and ready for demolding.

🧩 Decoration & Assembly

Unmold the frozen desserts.
Spray with yellow velvet spray according to the product instructions.
Insert a decorative green lemon stem into the top of each.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.