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Lemon Tart
Use a tart pan with removable edge. This is a little time consuming, but well worth the effort for special occasions.
What you need
- »«Tart Shell»«
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbl cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 stick (8 tbl) very cold butter, cut up
- 1 tbl flour
- »«Lemon Filling»«
- 7 egg yolks
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup fresh meyer lemon juice (about 5 lemons)
- 1/4 cup finely grated lemon zest
- 4 tbl unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 3 tbl cream
- 2 tbl sugar
How to make it
- For the shell - In a small bowl, mix egg yolk, cream and vanilla
- In a food processor, pulse to combine flour, sugar and salt
- Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and pluse until mixture resembles coarse meal (press pulse for about 1 second 10-20 times)
- Turn machine on and while running pour in egg mixture
- Process until dough just comes together (20-30 seconds)
- Remove and press into a 6 inch disc
- Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill for two hours
- Lightly flour a large piece of plastic wrap and roll out dough large enough to line a tart pan
- Place dough into tart pan and press evenly, forming to sides - use a rolling pin to remove excess pastry by rolling over top of pan
- Place lined pan into the freezer for 30 minutes
- Heat oven to 375 and adjust one rack to upper middle and other rack to lower middle
- Place chilled tart shell on a cookie sheet and and using parchment or foil, gently line the shell
- Fill with pie weights or dried beans to keep the shell from rising in the center while baking
- Bake on lower rack 30 minutes, rotating halfway through
- Remove foil and weights carefully by lifting straight up
- Transfer shell to upper rack and bake about 5 more minutes until golden brown
- For the filling - In a nonreactive bowl, whisk egg yolks and eggs until combined
- Add sugar and whisk until combined
- Add lemon juice, zest and salt and whisk until combined
- Transfer to medium nonreactive saucepan, add butter and cook over medium low heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until curd thickens to thin sauce (170 on instant read thermometer)
- Immediately pour curd through stainless steel or plastic strainer into a nonreactive bowl
- Stir in cream and immediately pour into warm tart shell
- Bake at 375 about 10 - 15 minutes until shiny and opaque and the center 3 inches still jiggle slightly
- Cool to room temperature, then remove outer metal ring
- Using a thin spatula, remove tart from bottom of tart pan and onto a serving dish
- Serve with fresh berries
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