Lemon Curd Tart

 You know that giant cake I wrote about last week? And that it had about 8 billion eggs in it? Making (and eating) the cake was great, but afterward I had a lot of egg yolks left over. In as much as an all-yolk scramble would be delicious, it just didn’t appeal to me that much. Plus it wouldn’t get rid of all my yolks, and my conscience just won’t let me eat that for breakfast multiple days in a row.

 

My next thought was to make (and can) lemon curd, but I never actually know what to do with curd. It’s delicious but too not-healthy for regular use. We had a family event coming up, so I figured made a shell to house the curd, I’d have a sharable dessert meant that I could eat some, but not too much. Perfect!

 

 

I did some rooting around on the internet to find see what sorts of lemon curd tarts existed. I ended up combining a Ina Garten crust with a (slightly altered) Alton Brown curd.

 

The result was a Lemon Curd filling that was sweet, tart, and tangy without being overly strong in any of those flavors (I don’t like it when lemon curd is so sweet that it hurts your teeth). The recipe is great because it can/should be made ahead of time and refrigerated until its ready to be served. The blueberries were a great accompaniment, and I also served it with freshly whipped cream, which I hear was delicious (I hate whipped cream, so I stayed 4 miles away from it).

 

Enjoy!

 

Lemon Curd Tart

tart shell by Ina Garten, lemon curd by Alton Brown (recipe altered by strudel)

 

for the tart shell:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

pinch salt

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

 

Mix the butter and sugar together in a the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until they are just combined. Ad the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Press the dough into a 10-inch round tart pan, making sure that the finished edge is flat. Chill until firm (note: I stuck mine in the freezer).

 

Butter 1 side of of a square of aluminum foil (note: I used parchment paper) to fit inside the chilled tart and place it, buttered side down, on the pastry. Fill with beans or rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil/parchment and beans (note: do this slooowly – the crust likes to stick to the parchment), prick the tart all over with the tines of a fork, and bake again for 20 to 25 minutes more, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool to room temperature.

 

for the lemon curd:

10 egg yolks

1 3/4 cups sugar

zest of 8 lemons (a microplane grater is *great* for this)

juice of approximately 4 lemons

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pats and chilled

 

Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

 

Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute.

 

Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 2/3 cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth.

 

Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan (bowl should be large enough to fit on top of a saucepan without touching the water). Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon.

 

Turn off heat and stir in butter one piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next.

 

Pour into prepared curst and return to fridge to set.

 

 

 

 

Posted on January 18, 2015
This entry was posted in baking, desserts and tagged dessert, Lemon, tart.