When life gives you lemons...make a Lemon Tart!

Lemon tarts have never been my cup of tea. That's probably not the best way to start this post, but it's the honest truth. But, it just so happens that lemon tarts are the very most favorite dessert of a certain Bengali gentleman. So, I decided to go for it and make him one for a special occasion. It was a runaway success. Just between you and me, I think that this tart is so good, it just might change my mind about tarte au citron, as the French call it. The great part about this tart is that you don't have to mess around with cutting cold butter into flour. It's a melted (and browned) butter tart shell that is just to die for. You can also make the tart shell well in advance, if you like, and keep it in the freezer until you're ready to use it!

I got the recipe from David Lebovitz who is an American living in Paris and a prolific dessert cookbook writer. Reading his blog is kind of like watching the movie Chocolat, impossible to get through without really craving delish sweets. So, consider yourself warned. It's amazing. But, without further ado, I will get to the recipe:

Lemon Tart (recipe for 1 11-inch tart)

Brown Butter Tart Shell:

- 2 sticks unsalted butter

- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil

- 6 tbsp. water

- 2 tbsp. sugar

- 1/4 tsp. salt

- 2 rounded C. flour

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

- In a saucepan, combine butter, oil, water, sugar and salt. Melt and combine until butter begins to brown. Don't stir it too much.

- Add flour and quickly mix into a dough.

- Once the dough is cool enough to handle (but still warm), press into an 11-inch tart shell

- Prick dough all over with a fork, and bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Lemon Curd:

- 1 c. Fresh Lemon Juice (it's worth it to squeeze your own, just make sure you don't have any paper-cuts before you do...Ouch!)

- Zest of 2 lemons

- 1 c. sugar

- 12 tbsp. butter

- 4 egg yolks

- 4 whole eggs

- Raspberries for garnishing

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- In a saucepan, heat together butter, lemon juice, zest and sugar

- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and yolks

- When butter is melted, stir together mixture well. Temper the eggs (directions on that link), then add them to the mixture.

- Cook mixture on low heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to bubble at the sides.

- Remove mixture from heat.

- Smooth curd into the pre-baked tart shell. Bake for 15 minutes. Curd should be just firm, but not dried out.

- If garnishing with berries, wait until tart is completely cooled. Then try and center them on your tart more effectively than I did!

So, there you have it. It's delicious, and sure to impress.

Until our next dessert,

ceh.