lemon tart

So I had a big ol' lump of pastry sitting in my freezer just begging to be baked & eaten. And then there was that net of lemons, just sitting there from the schnitzel party. Oh, and about 5kg of icing sugar left over from that christmas when i made 36 fully decked out, individually customised gingerbread houses... Sorry, that's me wandering off track. *wanders off track*...

Lemon tart has got to be my favourite dessert at the moment (as opposed to its sweeter, more impressive looking cousin, the lemon meringue pie). It's not often rivalled either, sometimes my Aunty Tina's cheesecake knocks it off its perch. Once (but only once) I was so wowed by a creme brulee that I forgot all about lemon tart. And then I had a slice of face pinchingly sour, smooth, then sweet biscuitty pastry lemon tart, and all was right again in the world.

the essentials

lemon tart
adulterated from the AWW's Best Food Collection

The ingredients for the pastry (and the method) can be found here.

ingredients for lemony goodness:

4 eggs
1 tbs finely grated lemon rind
180ml lemon juice
3/4 C caster sugar
125ml thickened cream

method for the lemony goodness

1. Fix the pastry first. You know the drill. Chill, roll, chill, fill with beans, bake, take out of oven.

2. Remember, when preparing the ingredients, to zest the lemon for rind before squeezing it for juice. This will save you a lot of trouble. Better still, get the Bean to do this part for you. She will thank you later. "Smell my fingers!" she will say.

lemons, post Bean

3. Whisk everything together. Don't stress. The cream doesn't curdle.

4. If you are picky, you can sick out the odd eggy bits or strain the mix. I am not picky.

5. Tip about 3/4 of the mixture into the pie crust & bake in a 150C oven for about 25 minutes.

ready for pouring

5a. While baking, tip the rest of the lemony goodness into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until it thickens. Eat this with toast. Or muffins. Or pancakes.

6. Cool the tart. It does not taste good hot. Well, it does, but it also burns the mouth. This is not a good thing. The tarts, however, are a good thing. If you re-use an old patisserie box and bring it to a party, people will think you are very generous. I put it in an old patisserie box and thought generously of myself everytime I ate some of it :)

big tart, baby tarts

ps) i heart AWW.