Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Lemon Tart


My boyfriend C eats lemons whole. I'm not sure about the seeds (I neglected to ask), but everything else definitely. When finished drinking his tea at a restaurant or squeezing some juice over chicken as a finishing touch, he'll just pop the lemon wedge straight into his mouth. Apparently it's something he inherited from his mother. Who am I to argue with tradition?


To address his love of lemons in a way that wouldn't result in my staring at him in disbelief for minutes after, I found this tart and first made it for his birthday. Since then he has requested it no less than a dozen times. In less than half a dozen months. Obviously a winning situation for everyone involved. ;)
This tart is no joke. This tart is tart. Trust me. The buttery and light crust nicely balances the lip-puckering action the filling induces. Take this tart out for company. Watch them lick the plate clean and then ask for more. Just make sure you have something to drink beside it to wash down the lemony tang. You'll feel like you're eating a lemon whole.

Lemon Tart

Sugar Cookie Crust:
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Curd Filling:
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest*
3 large eggs
2 egg yolks
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

*I've completely forgotten the lemon zest once (oops) and the tart was still very lemony.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For the crust, cream together butter and sugar in stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour, salt, cream and vanilla extract, mixing until dough is combined and crumbly.

Press dough into 10” tart pan (or four small tart pans), making sure dough is even across bottom and sides. Bake 15-20 minutes until firm and lightly browned. Allow to cool completely before adding filling.

For the filling, combine sugar and lemon juice in medium saucepan, stirring occasionally until brought to a boil.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs, egg yolks and zest together. Very slowly incorporate small amounts, a few tablespoons at a time, of the sugar mixture to the eggs, whisking continuously to avoid cooking the eggs.

Once fully incorporated, return mixture to pan and cook on medium heat until thickened (this will take around 8 minutes). Whisk frequently. When thickened, remove from heat and add butter, one piece at a time, mixing until melted. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before adding filling to crust.

Refrigerate tart 8 hours or overnight. Top with powdered sugar if you like.



After examining the recipe he told me, “Do you think you could use less butter in the filling next time? It doesn't taste lemony enough.” The guy is obsessed.

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1 comment:

  1. Ihave made something very like this, it is so lemoneeeee you pucker when you eat it but keep going for more. Mine is just a basic butter pie cust only difference. love it

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