A tart is a sweet or savoury dish with shallow sides and only a bottom crust. Tart crusts are usually made from pastry dough: traditionally flour, unsalted butter, cold water, and sometimes sugar. The goal is a firm, crumbly crust. Tarts are baked in a pan with a removable bottom, or in pastry ring on top of a baking sheet so that it can be unmolded before serving.

Lemon Tart Recipe

Yields: One 9-inch diameter tart

INGREDIENTS

Tart Shell:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour (190 g)

1 tbsp confectioners’ sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick cold, unsalted butter, diced (113 g)

1 large egg, beaten

Lemon Curd:

3 lemons, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature (113 g)

4 large eggs, at room temperature (beaten)

1/8 teaspoon salt

METHOD

Tart Shell:

1. In a mixing bowl sift all-purpose flour, sugar, and salt. Whisk well.
2. Cut cold butter into small cubes. Then add the butter into the flour mixture. With pastry blender, cut the butter into small pieces. You can do this with fingers, or food processor. Keep cutting until the mixture seems like fine breadcrumbs.
3. Make a hole in the flour and butter mixer. Beat an egg a little and add in to the hole. With a scraper fold the mixture until it starts to form a ball.
4. Scrape out the dough onto your clean (not floured) work surface, gather it into a ball, and then knead it briefly to insure all stray flour is incorporated. Form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic. Refrigerate for 2 hours (or up to 3 days). Or, freeze for 30 minutes (or up to 3 months).
5. Forming the tart shell - On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-inch diameter circle. Then centre the dough on the tart pan. Fold the overhang inside the tart, pressing it with your thumbs against the rim of the pan. This way the sides of the tart will be thicker than the bottom. Prick the bottom (not the sides) all over with the tines of a fork. Place a big piece of aluminium foil over the tart, pressing it into the contours of the shell. Then fill with pie weights or beans. Freeze for 30 minutes or longer.
6. Blind-baking the shell – While the foil-covered tart is chilling, centre the oven rack, and preheat the oven to 425°F or 210C . Bake for 15-20 minutes, or just until the crust is set. Transfer the tart to your work station, and remove the beans and foil. Return the shell to the oven, and continue baking until the crust colours slightly, and feels dry to the touch — 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Lemon Curd:

1. Remove the zest of the lemons with a zester, being careful to avoid the white pith.
2. Squeeze the lemons to make 1/2 cup of juice. Strain the juice.
3. Put the zest and lemon juice in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 2 to 3 minutes, until the zest is very finely minced.
4. In a big bowl, combine the lemon zest and juice mixer, sugar , beaten egg and salt and whisk until smooth.
5. Preheat oven to 150C.
6. Cook the mixture in a double boiler and whisking constantly, until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove bowl from boiler and whisk in butter until smooth.
7. Pour the lemon curd into the prepared tart shell and bake until the lemon curd has set, 15 to 20 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Refrigerate until chilled for about 2 hours.
9. Remove the tart ring and cut the tart into wedges.

Notes:

1. The tart can be refrigerated overnight.
2. Some recipes say strain lemon curd before pouring to the baked tart shell. However, I did not strain as I used lemon zest in my lemon curd.