by 
My husband spent his weekend in Paris and I wanted to treat myself with a dessert a la Paris, so I made an incredible fresh and delicious Lemon Tart. There are many versions of this classic French pastry, but in my opinion many of them are too sweet. If you are like me and want a not so sweet Lemon tart, that is still classy, fresh and tasty you should definitely try this one out. The first time I came across a Lemon Tart recipe, I was surprised to discover the quantity of butter and sugar most recipes used. Too much for my taste. I was horrified and decided to make my own version using half the amount most recipes recommend; even after this change it´s still not a very ”light” dessert, but a much lighter piece of goodness than others. Although it could very well have turned into a disaster, I think we hit the jackpot. It turned out exactly the way I wanted it to; sweet, although not too sweet, fresh, sour, smooth and creamy. No fancy techniques nor equipment necessary. A fairly easy recipe that can be done by anyone. I reduced the amount of sugar and butter and added corn starch to thickening the cream. The trick to a perfect, smooth cream is to constantly stir and to make sure you are baking it at a very low temperature so the eggs don’t get a chance to curdle. By no circumstances should the cream boil, not even one little tiny bubble. If that happens add an extra egg yolk or two and ”save” the lemon cream from scrambling disaster. The latter trick has saved me before, even though the end result is not perfect compared to how it should be. Follow my recipe step by step and you will be happy eating a delicious, super fresh and tasty lemon tart dessert today!
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- Tart dough
- 5,3 oz (150 g) chilled butter
- 1,27 cups (3 dl) all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) sugar
- 11 inch round tart pan, preferably with removable sides
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- Lemon cream
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 eggs
- Juice and zest from 4 organic lemons
- 0.84 cups (2 dl) sugar
- 5,3 oz (150 g) butter
- 3 tbsp (44 ml) cornstarch
- Tart Dough
- Preheat the oven 390 F (200 Celsius)
- Mix together the flour, butter and sugar in a bowl using your hands until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. If preferred use a food processor.
- Add the egg and mix until the dough just comes together.
- Turn dough into a tartlet pan. Gently press the dough out with your fingers, being careful not to stretch it as this will cause it to shrink when baking. To remove the excess dough, work your way around the edge pinching off the excess dough with your fingers.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastry is light golden. If you have a gas oven you need to blind bake it. To blind bake simply place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the dough.
- After 15 minutes in oven remove the aluminum foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
- While the dough is in the oven prepare the lemon cream.
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- Lemon cream
- Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan until eggs and sugar turns light yellow and fluffy.
- In another sauce pan melt the butter.
- Pour down the melted butter into the eggs and whisk until all combined.
- In a separate bowl or glass mix the lemon juice, zest and corn starch with a fork until corn starch is completely dissolved.
- Pour down into the eggs and whisk.
- Cook over medium/low heat, stirring constantly, until the lemon cream has thickened and coats the back of the spoon, approximately 10 minutes. Never stop stirring, not only for a second and never let the lemon cream boil only simmer.
- Pour the lemon cream into the tart shell. Allow to cool and refrigerate until completely set.
- Don´t forget to Stir and cook the lemon cream under low heat. Preheat the Tart dough rolled out in the tart pan before pouring the lemon cream into the tart shell. Enjoy!
