When life gives you lemons, make a lemon Tart!. During this pandemic we surely learned the importance of lemon, so why not have some fun with its taste.
Lemon tart is a refreshing dessert that is filled with creamy lemon curd. You can serve it with mint springs and mascarpone cream, and a brûléed crackling top.
A really quick recipe. It’s the best choice for weekend dessert and random get-togethers.
Ingredients for Lemon Curd
Caster sugar — ½ cup (100g)
Cornstarch — 3 tablespoons (32g)
Sea salt — a pinch
Heavy cream — ½ cup (120g)
Water — 4 tablespoons (60ml)
Lemon juice — ½ cup (110ml)
Lemon zest — ½ teaspoon
Turmeric Powder — a pinch (for colour)
Butter — 1.5 tablespoons (25g)
Ingredients for Tart shell
Flour — 1 cup
Butter — 1/4 cup, (cold and cubed into small pieces)
Castor Sugar — 1/4 cup
To start the process we first make the lemon curd. Take a vessel, mix all the ingredients (except butter), caster sugar, cornstarch, sea salt heavy cream, zest, turmeric powder, give it a mix, then add water and lemon juice. Mix everything until all ingredients are incorporated.
-Set this mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly (if you don’t keep mixing it, it will clump easily). The mixture will start to thicken slowly once cornstarch activates. To check if the mixture is ready, coat the back of a spoon, and run a finger along the back. If the mark left stays then it is ready, but if it floods then you need to keep stirring it for some more time.
Remove the mixture from heat, stir it at room temperature. Add butter in the mixture and whisk until well incorporated. Cover the mixture with cling film, covering the surface of the curd directly, and keep it aside to cool the curd
Rub together the flour, sugar, and butter together until the butter flakes into the flour and forms a rough dry mixture. Rubbing the butter cubes into the long flakes helps to give a better texture to it. Once dry ingredients are well mixed, add a teaspoon of ice water so that the entire mixture just holds together. Wrap the bowl of batter with cling film and refrigerate it for 20 minutes or so. Alternatively, if you want things to be quick, you can pulse everything in a mixer until all ingredients are just incorporated together, mix until it forms a shaggy dough and then you can put it in the fridge for an hour.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Dust flour on a plane surface, roll out the dough to approximately 3 mm thickness Drape that dough around your tart tin, set it according to the space. Using a fork poke holes to prevent rising.
-Blind bake it for around 10 minutes at 180 °C or until the color is pale golden, wait to let it cool down.
-To blind bake, put cling film over the shell, and then fill up the tarts with something heavy like uncooked rice or beans, this helps ensure the crust stays flaky and in shape, and doesn’t become soggy.
After the blind bake, remove the cling film with rice/beans, and fill the tarts with lemon curd ¾ of the way. Lastly, bake it again at 150 °C for 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven and let it cool down for 10 minutes. Then refrigerate it for 2 hours before serving.
Enjoy the cold Lemony flavour tart. It is a tasty blend of sweet and tangy flavours. Save the recipe and share it with your friends.
