French Lemon Tart

I know it is Pumpkin time… but maybe you should add this delicious Lemon Tart into your fall menu!

I tore this recipe out of a magazine, my magazine & have kept it for years but just never made it. If I want a lemon tart I usually buy one! But not any more! This tart was actually simple to make, I served it on a dessert buffet table & some of our guests asked me where I bought it from!

I made this tart & froze it until I wanted to serve it/ Worked out perfectly!

The recipe is from Canadian Living magazine 2005.. French Lemon Tart

I didn’t change anything in the recipe except it called for apple jelly to glaze the top of the tart, I didn’t have any & left it of, so I am not including it in the recipe since I don’t know how the tart tastes with it! I was worried about making the lemon curd… would it be smooth, hopefully I wouldn’t burn it…. it turned out great!

There are some groceries you will most likely have to go buy..

***you need 8 eggs & fresh lemons to make 1/4 cup of lemon juice, so I would have 2 or 3 lemons on hand… sometimes they don’t give lots of juice. & you need butter, not margarine

TIPS

*** the recipe calls for 4 egg yolks… you can keep these & make meringues with them! or even a pavlova

*** make the filling before you make the crust. The filling takes about 20 minutes to cook & 2 hours to cool so you can organize your time if you do the filling first

*** There are several stages & long cooling times for the stages for this tart…. 2 hours for the filling once it is cooked, cooling time for the crust & 2 hours cooling time for the finished tart. This is why I made it days before I was going to serve it & popped it covered well in the freezer..then I took it out of the freezer the morning I was going to serve it, put it in the fridge to defrost then it was ready to go in the evening

Heres the recipe…. you should give it a try!

You need a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom ( I had to borrow one from my friend!… my tart pan does not have a removable bottom, but this tart is so good I am going to buy one)

Ingredients

Lemon Filling

5 eggs

3 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp cold butter

Crust

1/2 cup cold butter, cube the butter

1 cup flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp water

3 egg yolks

Method

Filling

1. This is should be made in a double boiler, but I don’t have one so I use a bowl that sits over a saucepan without falling into the pot! Put some water in the bottom of your pot, turn it on & bring it to a simmer, then you can put the bowl over the water…the bowl should not touch the water
2. In the bowl or top of the double boiler…whisk the eggs, egg yolks & lemon juice together. Put over the simmering water & cook until the mixture is translucent & thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. It is very important to stir this often so that it doesn’t not get thick in some spots & not all over..Watch it closely This can take about 15-20 minutes to cook
3. While this is cooking, get a fine strainer ready over a bowl & a wooden spoon or silicone spatula
4. When the filling is finished cooking, pour it into the strainer over the bowl & mix it until all of it has gone through the stainer
5. Add the butter to the hot filling & stir
6. Cover the filling with plastic wrap.. put it right on top of the filling so that a scum does not form
7. Put into the refigerator for 2 hours or you can make it 24 hours ahead

Crust

1. Cube the butter & set aside. If you are going to be awhile before using the butter, put it in the fridge to stay cold until you are ready to use it
2. Whisk the flour & sugar together in a bowl
3. Add the cubed butter & using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut the butter into the flour/sugar until fine crumbs with a few larger pieces of butter
4. Whisk the egg yolk with the water & drizzle this over the flour mixture
5. Using a fork, mix until the dough clumps together
6. Turn this out onto a very lightly floured work surface
7. Press into a smooth ball & flatten
8. Roll into a circle 11″ so it will fit into a 9 inch tart pan… if you need to flour your rolling pin, use a small amount of flour
9. Put the rolled dough into the tart pan
10. Gently let it settle into the pan, press it into the sides so it sits flat
11. Trim the edges
12. Refrigerate the crust for 30 minutes….
13. the recipe says you can make this up to 24 hours before you want to bake it.. cover & keep in the fridge
14. When the crust is cooling in the fridge, preheat the oven to 400f
15. Before baking, prick the bottom crust all over with a fork
16. Line the crust with a piece of foil & put some pie weights or dried been on the foil…this keeps the crust flat when baking
17. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the top of the crust at the edge starts to turn brown. Remove the weights & foil…put back into the oven & bake for another 10 minutes or so until the crust is golden,,n
18. Set aside on a rack to cool

Putting it Together

1. Preheat oven to 325f
2. Spoon the lemon pie filling into the cooled crust…try not to eat too much of this delicious filling as you do this! You want enough in the shell !!!
3. Bake in the oven until the filling loses some of its shine & there is a thin skin one top…about 12 minutes
4. Place on a rack to cool & chill in the fridge for 2 hours until it is cool

To Serve

Remove the edge of the tart pan & I was able to very carefully remove the bottom of the tart pan & put the tart onto a serving plate

Garnish

You can garnish your tart with fresh berries or sprinkle with icing sugar… that is what I did I tried to get it around the edge,,, you will see in the pictures