Lemon Tart

This lemon curd tart is quite the tasty treat and will surely impress your guests bringing this out for dessert on a bright summer day. It took several tries to get the curd right at 7,000 feet, so it should not be a problem for bakers in high elevation. This recipe was made to come out at its best at 7,000 feet. This will take some time to create and is a dessert you must pay close attention to or the curd will not come out right and will need to start over again. However, this dessert is well worth the work. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Crust -

• 1 3/4 cups white unbleached flour

• 1/2 cup ground toasted almonds (see recipe)

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 8 tbl chilled unsalted butter

• 1 large egg

• pinch of salt

Filling -

• 3 lemons worth of zest

• 4 lemons worth of juice

• 1.5 cup white sugar

• 18 tbl sliced butter

• 6 whole eggs

• 6 egg yolks

Directions:

1. To make the almonds, toast sliced almonds in a cooking pan on the stove top until slightly browned. Make sure to watch as you stir them around, they can become burnt quickly. Remove off heat and let cool slightly. Pour into mortar and pestle and ground the almonds (or you can use a food processor.) Set aside.

2. To make the pastry, toss the flour, almonds and sugar in a mixing bowl. Slowly cut in the butter and mix until mixture resembles bread crumbs.

3. Add in the egg and pinch of salt, mix and knead with your hands gently. Form pastry into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate while making the filling.

4. Heat medium saucepan with water and bring to a slow boil. Place a large metal mixing bowl mix in all filling ingredients except butter to simulate a double broiler.

5. Immediately drop in butter slices one at a time while constantly whisking. Continuously whisk the mixture as it heats up for about 10-15 minutes until it thickens. (This part will make or break the recipe.) Remove from heat while baking crust, or have a partner bake crust while you create and whisk the filling simultaneously.

6. Heat oven to 425 F and take crust out of the refrigerator. Once it is malleable roll out the dough between to sheets of parchment paper into an 11 inch circle. Place into tart pan and trim excess dough. Prick bottom of dough with a fork.

7. Place foil over dough and fill with beans or rice to keep the pie crust from puffing up. Bake 9 minutes and remove from oven. Remove beans and foil and return to oven for an additional 5-6 minutes. Do not overbake or crust will become extremely hard. Let crust cool.

8. Lower oven temperature to 350 F.

9. Pour filling into bowl through mesh strainer to create a smooth texture and pour into tart shell and smooth the filling with a spatula.

10. Bake tart for 5-7 minutes. It should be a soft custard when you touch it but not liquid-like. The tart will continue to set while it cools.

11. Decorate tart after it has completely cooled down with some lemon slices and raspberries. Or, keep it simple and dust the top with some powdered sugar. I like to place a shape cut out of parchment paper, place on top of tart, and dust around it with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Baking Tips:

There are two crucial moments when baking your tart. First is when creating the filling. Make sure that you are continuously whisking while mixing the ingredients together before and after you add the sliced butter. Continuous whisking while the mixture is heated will prevent the eggs from scrambling and create a smooth and thick filling.

The second is when baking the tart altogether. Pull it out too soon and your curd won’t set properly, leaving you with soupy consistency. Bake it too long and it will not yield the correct smooth and velvety texture you are looking for.

This is not an easy bake so give yourself some grace while baking this extravagant dessert. Bake a day ahead so as to have enough energy to mingle with your guests.